| Show rank and file disapproved and considered ariev ance insufficient duluth aug 13 after a battle ot several weeks the gibat mining strike in the iron fields of minnesota lying north of this city is broken and within a short time it will be little more than a bad memory perhaps never benoie in the alstork of the country has an indus conflict of equal magnitude been fought to a finish s rapidly and so decisively it Is also true that no organization considering itself fully equipped for war when it hoisted the battle flag has been so thoroughly beaten as the western federation of miners in this instance briefly summarized these were the conditions that led to the federations undoing abere was no cause tor the strike as there was no grievance on the part of the miners sufficient to justify it the rank and file of the miners did not approve of it and they were induced to cease work only through tear of being designated as scabs the people of the corthern part of the state were determined that the western organization should gain a foothold here to repeat the sanguinary program which created a reign of terror in colorado and idaho and the mine owners set their teeth and said in order to kill the federation in the masaba mesaba and lUlon fields we will shut down every mine in the district it necessary but it was the attitude of the common people which decided the conflict and the course pursued by them may afford a valuable lesson to residents of other sections who in the past have too tamely submitted to the abuse of their rights by labor and capital when they reach the point where the imagine peace Is no longer possible and an appeal to arms is the only course left them the strife on the ranges has cost the miners railroad men and the em aloyes of shipping interests in this section about and before former conditions are restored it is estimated that they will be out another the important interests owning the mines lose about 2000 and the business interests had their trade curtailed fully losing the profits of this vast volume of business the conflict was engineered by one man and furnishes a notable example of the abuse of unionism for selfish ends the victimizing of the workers to further the plans of ambition teofllo with anarchistic and socialistic tendencies came from italy seven years ago he appears to be a man ethically careless who casts Us lot wherever the picking promises to be the richest he la well educated able and ambitious and does not like work that calls tor undue muscular exertion after an attempt at organizing a socialistic party in new jersey he conducted a socialist paper in newark and failed after a year he went to cleveland and ran a publication which mercilessly scored the unions failure was his lot in the ohio city also then he turned front joined the labor host and waa loud in his denunciation of capital but he had played his string in cleveland and there was no future tor him there he workers and capital would bae none so he came west at houghton mich he joined the western federation and drifted to the colorado fields at the time the battle was thickest there he won approval of the federation chiefs because of his ability as an organizer while in colorado as an humble lieutenant of moyer and others his ambition was working andee set his heart on becoming the of the federation well knowing it to be a place of profit as well as power then and there the minnesota strike was conceived when he arrived here things wen not looking bright for successful strike promotion the miners and the employers were in harmony on every score the best of wages were being paid the workers at the mines earning from to abo per day in addition to this the heaviest alno owners in the iron district had long been engaged in a campaign for the betterment of the lot of the workers realizing that a sober and contented population in the range country was one of its greatest assets the miners in consequence were prosperous seven nintha ninths of the heads ot families owned their own homes they cultivated gardens chickens and the children went to school every day the younger generation waa growing up along th sturdiest diest american lines at the closing exercises n the schools programs which would be creditable to any american community were the rule in virginia eveleth Ev cleth hibbing Nas hwack and at the lesaer places the names on the program represented family patro familiar in genoa and along the danube these young foreigners were become americans and their parents were proud of it the range country waa the most prosperous in the state and the wealth better distributed than in any other mining community in america surely one will say this condition was not conducive to industrial warfare Petr lella knew that ats followers had no grievance and were not willing to strike he must therefore create a grievance at any cost and lie cast about to find one now there was the contract system on which the mines were being worked under it aho miners got from 60 cents ot 1 a car for the ore taken out and earned from to a day according ft their proficiency fici ency the shovel men were getting 5 a day and the machinists 3 among the Minne osta miners there are many nationalities the strongest in numbers being the lans then come the finns italians and a sprinkling of Montene grans and others the lans are the best workmen on the ranges and earn the highest wage the italians are somewhat below them in proficiency and the finns and others who lack industry or training are under the contract system receiving the smallest remuneration because they do the least amount of work of course they were jealous of the more efficient and prosperous miners and determined to turn this jealousy to good account it must also be remembered that the less efficient workers of all the other nationalities outnumber the austrians Aust rians very considerably in order to further his ambition and bring on a strike proposed a uniform scale of wages couplin g with it recognition of the western federation by the mine owners this Is what he offered to the members of his organization eight hours labor 5 a day for sh and machinists 3 a day for miners and abolition or practical abolition of the contract system it was put to a vote and carried all the poorer workmen voting solidly for it with this accomplished complis hed the strike was no longer a question wednesday july 17 presented this scale to the mining interests with a demand for a reply by july 29 he felt certain that the interests would not accede to the demands during the evening and night of the and all forenoon of the there came startling news to him it was hinted that the employers would yi eldor at least suggest a basis for peaceable settlement of the trouble it was pointed out to him that over tons of ore must be moved during the remainder of the season and that the mine owners could not afford to see their great pits idle this was startling intelligence to who knew there would be little glory in a peaceful settlement the credit for which would go largely to outside arbitrators he resolved to act at once so he called all the men from the mines issuing his order on the evening of the and every mine on the me saba was idle by the evening of the the men on the vermilion did not obey him and the mines there were never closed about miners went out those who were not members of the federation not caring to bear the odium of being called scabs but it n as a halfhearted half hearted action on their part they went to their homes and conducted themselves as model workmen should they regarded tt as a vacation and resolved to keep out of trouble had figured his scheme well and timed the explosion to suit himself his plans contemplated a titanic and spectacular battle with the mine owners accompanied with rioting and bloodshed it necessary he openly advocated resistance to the deputy sheriffs who might be sent to guard the mines he pictured his name bei aided to tho four winds as that ot the man who was throttling the octopus and the oppressor in minnesota what stronger claim could anyone have to the presidency of the western federation of miners and if he won who could stand against him so it will bo seen that he had planned his battle and was carrying it on regardless of the welfare of those he pretended to serve but he overlooked one thing h neg lecter to take into consideration the common people that great mass which is BO patient so long suffering and so slow to wrath and there Is where he committed his gret error the people had been watching every move and in silence they had made up their minds I 1 ho morning after the strike began this sentiment thundered throughout every city and hamlet in northern minnesota there is no room in this state for the western federation of miners alie press of duluth sounded the alarm and it was echoed in every trade and profession in every class and calling the people of the district were armed as one man against and his organization this attack from a quarter about which he had not een thought confounded he replied by a show of violence the more unruly ot his followers were paraded in the streets of the range towns behind the red flag tills flaunting of the symbol of anarchy added to the wrath of the people and there was a demand which could not be withstood that armed deputies he hurried to the range to preserve order and afford ample protection to all who wished to work the mine owners who had already declared against any dealings with and the federation said they could work abo mines it krotec alon was afforded to this demand sheriff bates of louis county and sheriff hoolahan of itasca replied by sending about 3 armed men into the affected dla tracts they overawed over awed the turbulent strikers and soon the best ot the men who went out were returning to corli I 1 there were few minor combats resulting in or no damage and then came a cry tor stale trompa by some of the moie excitable of the employers in reply to athla declared that his followers were being abused by the deputies and demanded protection from governor johnson the conflict waged thus to the end of the week but the strike was partially broken and fully half of the men back in the mines on tuesday july 30 governor johnson visited the range to look over tho situation he declared there was no need of troops and fully endorsed the action taken by the sheriffs and the course followed by their deputies ho declared there should be no more marching by strikers that they must keep away from the mines and eliat every man who wished to work would be afforded the protection of the state the strikers he said could exercise i their right of meeting undisturbed but there was no room for red flag parades and they would not be tolerated t the laboring people of the district endorsed the action which had been taken against and his organization then came the introduction of a new and totally unexpected element in the situation with ample credit at the plenty of food and no work the great mass of the striking miners was content to remain idla and wait upon events ahe men did not realize that public opinion was strongly against the unfair attitude of their labor leader and that public opinion not only Is extremely potent but acts unexpectedly at times the blow came one morning in the shape of a curt decision on the part of the storekeepers not to give one further cent of credit without the men returned to their legitimate work A resolution to this effect had been passed by the merchants at a secret meeting and the result was immediate and decisive the idle men who were without money turned to the supposedly all powerful federation tor relief but had failed to anticipate this development and he was powerless and possibly reluctant to authorize an expenditure of funds the men grumbled but returned to work today eighty per cent of the strikers are engaged at their old tasks and the mines are shipping oro in large volume the masaba mesaba strike Is not the first instance in which public opinion aroused by unionism evils and lawlessness has proved a factor in ending a labor disturbance but the attitude of the matter of fact businesslike business like storekeepers of the masaba mesaba range offers an extremely valuable and effective example of practical results following the arousing of public opinion FINANCIAL conditions careful and conservative view of tha situation taken by a close observer kew york john W gates considered to be good authority on business conditions gave his impressions of the money market to the wall street new york journal sir gates has evidently given the subject much careful thought and hs interview is reproduced here tor the benefit of the people mr gates said there Is no getting around the fact that a slowing up in business has set in but I 1 do not have the interpretation terp that we are facing a serl ous recession placed upon this statement what I 1 mean Is that business Is easing up which is a natural sequence of the scarcity of money and the high rates corporations are forced for accommodations to carry through improvements and necessary the truth Is there Is not sufficient money for legitimate business purposes business has grown too fast in comparison with our money supply we will have to slow up a little until the money supply catches up 1 I do not know when this readjust ment will take place but there Is one thing certain there will have to be some drastic financial legislation created for the purpose of expanding our money supply before the vast and unlimited resources ot the country can be developed as they should be dei eloped prices in many stocks are below intrinsic values but we cannot have a broad market as long as railroads and other corporations have to pay from 6 to 8 per cent for alon an evidence of which la found in the large returns to the investor on short form notes there are at present no indication that we are going to have an easy money market for the rest of the year an active bull market and a continuation of tho pressure which has characterized nil lines of business over the last year or two would create a money stringency that would disastrous to all line business it Is because of this that I 1 say a slowing up in business will prove beneficial in the end when we get some good substantial currency legislation we will then not have to live in fear of prohibitive rates tor money on every little spurt of business legislation looking toward the correction of alleged corporate abuses will prove beneficial in the end although it has not had a tendency to improve conditions in wall street of course such investigations will have to be conducted in a sane conservative and orderly way so as not to impair or destroy the credit of legitimate arises |
