The following clipping is the conclusion of [a] very able article in recent issue of the Mining & Engineering Journal, the authority on mining in this country:
"The correct solution of the problem of getting an adequate labor supply for mines is not in lowering the intellectual standard of workmen sought. It is rather to make the mines safer, more comfortable and sanitary. Improve the ventilation. Raise community conditions. Even raise the wages if need be to keep the more intelligent classes of workmen. View the wage problem in a broad way. Consider the indirect as well as the direct costs. The lowest-price labor is seldom the cheapest in the long run. Give a raise if it is at all deserved, for if it is deserved, it will have to be given in time, anyway. Therefore, the sooner the better, for the good workmen, the dependable workmen, will then be held in the community."
As has been well pointed out by the Mining and Engineering Journal, the epidemic of Mine Strikes prove conclusively that the mining companies the county over have been making a mistake by bringing in foreigners from the south of Europe, foreigners who had no notion of ever becoming citizens, and the solution is to employ native labor or only such foreigners as will become real citizens, home owners and town builders, and pay them good wages.
In connection with the settlement of the difficulty between Mr. Holmes and the St. Joe-Doe Run officials, the report of the Consolidation Committee will be sent out in a few days. What that report is we have no intimation, but whatever is recommended or done it is certain that the ultimate result will be a benefit to Bonne Terre and the Lead Belt.