The Idaho scimitar. [volume], December 14, 1907, Image 1

About The Idaho scimitar. [volume] (Boise, Idaho) 1907-1908

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VOL. I
BOISE, IDAHO, DECEMBER 14, 1907.
No. 7.
Trouble In Nevada.
The State of Nevada is confronted by a condi
tion into which its executive has drawn the Federal
authorities, with, perhaps, insufficient cause. It is
a revival, upon the soil of Nevada, of the intense
struggle between organized mine ownership and
organized mine labor, with the seat of trouble at
Goldfield.
Public attention was rather sharply attracted to
the situation last week by a request, filed by the
Governor of the State, for the assistance of the
military arm of the general Government, Nevada
having no State militia. President Roosevelt
sponded as quickly as the order could be trans
mitted through the War Department and on Sat
urday afternoon nine companies of regular troops
were landed at Goldfield and placed in camp in the
vicinity of mines rendered idle by a strike of the
workingmen there employed.
re
Governor Sparks, the Nevada executive, based
his appeal to the Federal authorities upon an alle
gation of the existence of demonstrations of vio
lence, unlawful conspiracies and conditions brought
by the mine workers and the obstruction of the
execution of the laws of the State by them. Pie
said that "the constituted authorities of the State
of Nevada are now and continue to be unable
to protect the people in their rights,
authorities were unable to apprehend and punish
That the
the perpetrators of crimes, specifying the dynamit
ing of property, commission of felony, threats against
lives and property and the unlawful possession of
fire-arms.
The United States shall guarantee to every State
in this union a republican form of government, and
shall protect each of them against invasion; and on
application of the Legislature, or the executive
(when the Legislature cannot be convened) against
The Governor based his appeal for Federal
sistance on section four of article four of the Fed
eral Constitution, which reads :
as
domestic violence.
The action taken by the Governor
surprise to the citizens of Goldfield,
declared that he was able to maintain order and
had made no request for interference on the part
of the State. Many of the county officers and
bers of the State Legislature made formal protest
against the request for Federal troops, stating that
came as a
The sheriff
mem
there was no disturbance at Goldfield and had been
none. The president of the Goldfield miners' union
declared : "There is no sane man in the district
who will say there was any need for Federal troops
in Goldfield."
On the arrival at Goldfield of the troops sent from
San Francisco, their commanding officer, Colonel
Reynolds, was met by Captain William Cox, of the
Governor's staff and personal representative of the
Governor, who was not at the
said that "Governor Sparks' action in requesting
that troops be sent to Goldfield was merely a pre
cautionary measure and not based on any overt
acts of the union men."
Shortly after the arrival of the soldiers of the
general Government, the Goldfield Mine Owners'
Association went into session and, so the newspaper
Captain Cox
scene.
accounts say, "decided to make a determined strug
gle to free Goldfield of union domination and make
it an open camp." It is understood that, under the
protection of Federal authority, men are being hired
to take the places of union miners and that pref
erence is being given to Goldfield workingmen who
will abandon the union. This action is looked upon
in labor circles as a clue to the motive behind the
Î Roosevelt Declines.
*
's*
f 4
* On Wednesday of the current week, follow- *f*
* ing the call for a Republican National Conven- *
4« tion, President Roosevelt gave this statement X
£
to the public : <
T "On the night of election I made the fol- i*
4* lowing announcement:
I am deeply sensible of the honor done *
X me .ky tbe American people in thus expressing X
± ; hei i confideilce in what I have done and have *
T tried to do. I appreciate to the full the solemn f
I responsibility this confidence imposes upon me %
U i
*
4 < and I shall do all that in my power lies, not to K*
X forfeit it. On the fourth of March next I T
X fi lial U iave scM ved tbree and a , half years and
± this three and a half years constitute my first *
J term. The wise custom which limits the pres- t
* ident to two terms regards the substance and X
X not tbe f°rm, and under no circumstances will 1*
X inatlon , can(bcbatc ^ or or accept another nom- ^
* "I have not changed and shall not change *
the decision thus announced." X
t No other Republican can bb elected Presi- Î
± dent of the United States. • *
± Mr. Roosevelt has rendered cert;# the t
% election of Willianfej. Eryan. %
4 * «3»
course of the Governor in calling on Washington
for military support.
t
From the accounts given by both sides to the
con
troversy, it is evident that the miners have made
demonstration of violence, although there have
been some personal encounters.
The miners instituted a strike against the pay
ment of their wages wholly in cashiers' or mine
company checks, demanding part payment in gold
alleging that they were unable to procure the
saries of life with the checks. The situation is
no
neces
therefore an outcome of the financial disturbance that
n- , ,, . , ....
affectS he whole country and 13 bein S treated in
most communities with the calm consideration that
keeps down excitement.
If, as is stated impartially, the miners have ab
stained from organized violence, the Governor of
Levada has overstepped his authority in bringing the
soldiers of the centralized government to the
in the face of the declaration of the sheriff that he
scene
was able to cope with the situation,
that he may precipitate the trouble he
to avoid.
On the other hand, it is'stated that the men of
union are anxious to escape from the
requirements of the union and are willing to go to
work on their individual responsibility if protected.
As soon as the troops were disposed for their pro
tection the mine owners' organization announced a
It is possible
was seeking
the miners 1
scale of miners' wages that amounts to a reduction
of about 20 per cent and stated that no employment
would be given to members of the Western Feder
ation of Miners.
The mine owners assert that they will
duction of 20 per cent in the cost of living to their
employees, and i£ this agreement is carried out the
ttfoge reduction will not prove a hardship,
be said that the mine owners have failed to
cause a re
It may
carry
out other agreements and the mine workers may
not be blamed for any distrust that exists
them.
The transactions at Goldfield are being carried on
under the auspices of the United States Govern
ment, and it will be blamed or commended according
to the result of its military intervention.
Time will develop the true state of affairs
that the authorities have precipitated
among
now
a crisis.
Naval Demonstration
On Monday of next week the flag ship of Admiral
Robley D. Evans will pass from Hampton Roads
into the Atlantic Ocean, followed by the armada that
is to make the Pacific cruise as an object lesson to
the nations of the earth.
Since the President issued the order for the tern
. , c , . . , .
porary transfer of this aggregation of fighting craft
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, dwellers in the coast
cities along the Atlantic have given voice to a con
tinuous protest against the
. ,, . r .
tliat they are to be exposed to possible destruction
movement, assuming
event of sudden declaration of hostilities by
some foreign nation. That there is no shadow of
war in sight does not mit'igate the anxiety they
. „ . * , T L, , y , y
express ' Specially have the New York papers de
Ç Iaimed against the departure of the fleet, though it
is presumed that they are using it as a pretext for
attacks upon the President they do not love.
The fleet Under . command of Admiral Evans has
been congregated in Hampton Roads preparatory to
ltS d ^ parture on its lon S voyage and the magnificent
naval equi P me nt has attracted thousands of visitors
t0 V,ew the pageant Ha ™pton Roads was the scene
° f the encounter tha t banished the wooden war ship
from the seas and put the iron clad fighter into
commission.
It was there that the Confederate Merrimac demol
ished the flower of the American navy and would
have ravaged the Northeastern coast but for the
timely arrival of the Federal Monitor. The shots
fired by these two crude iron clad ships in deadly
grapple were heard around the world. The nations
made haste to retire their wooden navies and during
the intervening years inventive genius and physical
skill have made possible the immense iron clad
flotilla that is to sail around the Southern extremity
of the hemisphere and visit the ports of the Western
coast of the United States.
The United States has never indulged in a naval
demonstration of the magnitude of the one that is to
be made under command of Admiral Evans. It will
furnish a valuable school of practice to the officers
and men of the navy and will convey no menace to
the nations of the old
the hysterics of the newspapers of New York and
some of the other Atlantic coast cities.
new world, notwithstanding
or
--
Currency Legislation.
The opening week of Congress has developed
great a variety of opinion on the subject of the im
provement of the currency that no legislation is
probable earlier than next
the members of the lower House do not understand
so
It is said that
summer.
the subject and are not informing themselves. Some
sort of a currency bill will probably go from the
1 louse to the Senate and it will then be interesting
to see the Senatorial foot placed upon it.
There is a great deal of money talent in the Sen
ate and the kind of talent that will there predomi
come from the centers
of banking influence, from the gods of the dollar
in New York and from along the line of Mark
Hannas captains of industry. Just what the interests
of the common citizen will look like when the talent
of the Senate is through with the subject can be
imagined.
The currency question has been manipulated by a
class since the old greenback of blessed fame
nate during the session will
was
deprived of the power it originally possessed
will probably again be manipulated by a class. The
time seems to have arrived for the doing of
thing, and the statesmen are all at sea—the
tunity is again ripe for "the interests."
ana it
some
oppor-