The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

oe DOCK STRIKE SETTLED. As announced in the last issue of the Review the dock strike at the head of the lakes has been settled. Work ceased at Duluth, July 12, at Two Harbors, July 14, and at Allouez, July 15, resuming at all three docks on Aug. 1. On July 31, President Olcott, of. the Duluth, Mesabi & Northern railroad sub- mitted the following communication to a meeting of the strikers: Hon. M. B. Cullum, Mayor, "City of Duluth. "Dear Sir:--We are in receipt of the communication addressed to you, under date of the 29th instant, from a com- mittee of ore dock employes of this com- pany, and beg to say that said communi- cation has had our most careful consid- eration, "It is our desire to resume work at the docks at once and we shall be greatly pleased if the employes, after careful con- sideration, shall finally decide to go back. If they do, we assure you that there will be no discrimination against any of them and that no additional men will be em- ployed until all of our old employes are given an opportunity to return to work, if they so desire. _ "We desire to commend the dock em- ployes for the peaceable and law abiding manner in which they have conducted themselves during the past two weeks and beg to assure you that if°-and when the strike is ended, it shall be our pur- 'pose to give the men, through committees representing all our employes, every op- portunity of taking up from time to time, with the officials of the company matters of mutual interest and concern and to treat with them in all matters with the same degree of fairness that we have always accorded. "We believe that the dock employes will find it for their own best interests to resume work and without delay. If, however, they decide otherwise, kindly say to them 'that we shall feel at liberty to employ other men permanently to take their places at once, much as we shall regret the necessity for so doing, "So far as we know only two matters of difference exist. "1. The question of open shop. "2. The rates of wages. "You and the men well know our posi- tion on this first question. For 14 years past we have consistently stood upon the broad policy that we have the inherent right to employ any man seeking to enter our service irrespective of whether he is affiliated or not with any organization or association and without regard to na- tionality. We believe our position here is unassailable and, in fact, as you will re- call, the committee of our dock employes, in their communication to you dated the 27th instant, expressly disclaimed that 'you, TAE MarRINE. REVIEW they were making any demand upon us for the "closed shop" policy. "In regard to the rate of wages, per- mit us to say that the present scale to be effective until Oct. 31, 1907, was the result of a verbal agreement between all the dock employes, represented by their own committee, and the company. This agreement was made at a conference at which eight men representing the em- ployes were present and was thoroughly understod and assented to by both par- ties at that time and work at the docks was carried on for two months under the same. In our relations with our em- ployes, as well as with the public, we consider a verbal agreement as binding and effective as a written one. "We think that the dock men should show their good faith and intention to carry out their agreement made in May by immediately returning to work. "Whatever the conclusions of these ne- gotiations may be, we desire to express to you our sincere thanks for your un- tiring, impartial and public spirited efforts in attempting to adjust the difficulty and bring about peaceable and much to be de- sired solution of the matter, and assur- ing you of our personal regard, believe us, ' uVery respectfully yours, CV. J OLCorr, Brida) The reply of the strikers to President Olcott's letter was as follows: STRIKERS REPLY TO OLCOTT's LETTER, Duluth, Minn., July 31, 1907. Hon. M. B. Cullum, Mayor City of Du- luth: Dear Sir:--We beg leave to acknowl- edge the receipt of Mr. Olcott's letter to in answer to our offer to submit the matters at issue between the ore dock workers and the Duluth, Mesabi & Northern railway to arbitration. While the company did not see its way clear to accept our offer, we agreed, by unanmious vote, to accept the proposition of the company, with the verbal assur- ance given by you that the men at Two Harbors and Allouez would be treated in the same manner as the officials of the D., M. & N. railway agree to reinstate the men at the Duluth ore docks, and with the additional assurance that all would entertain committees from their employes to take up matters from time to time involving their welfare. The men also insisted that the board- ing cars and armed guards be removed from the docks. We presume there would be no objection to the presence of special police, who might be armed with the usual weapons of a police officer. We desire to assure you that the men have the kindliest feelings towards the officials of the company, and we are pleased to note that they appreciate our ? behavior during the unpleasant contro- versy which is just meeting a most happy end. We desire to assure them, through you, that our attitude in the future shall be in accordance with every rule of propriety, which should mark the rela- tions between employers and employes. We have unanimously voted to report for work at 7 a. m, tomorrow, provided the conditions above referred to are ac- ceptable to the companies involved. 'Thanking you again for your untiring 'and patriotic efforts in behalf of our cause, and with reassurance of our kindly feelings towards our.employers, we beg leave to remain, Yours very, truly, Ore Dock Workers' Union of Duluth. By (Signed) J. Thoresen, Wm. O. Per- ry, Theo. Lyons, Nelson Perry, J. W. Comer, Committee. On Thursday morning, Aug. 1, at Du- luth, about 240 men returned to work, obtained their old check numbers, seemed glad to get back and have been working ever since. On the night shift Thursday, 292 men reported, and on Friday morn- ing the day shift increased to 258, some new men being hired, so that there are now at work 550 men as compared with 750 before the strike. All of the 750 were not necessary, however, simply be- ing kept by the company so that the dock is now in shape to handle its full quota of ore, 100,000 tons daily. - In the 24 hours, beginning Thursday morning, 1,710 cars were unloaded as compared with the usual nuniber about 2,200. The ore which had been standing in the cars subject to sun and rain has baked pretty hard on top and made the handling on the dock a little more difficult. On Thursday, both day and night shift, the full schedule of ore was shipped from the Hull-Rust pit, 200 cars being loaded, but this was prac- 'tically all that was sent down" from the Hibbing district, The conditions on the other docks are almost identical with those at Duluth. The crews are somewhat shorthanded at present because of the migration of the old men, but other men are available. There will be no further hindrance to shipping because of the docks. An effort is being made to load those boats which have been waiting longest as quickly as possible but the right cargoes are not always available from that ore which has been standing on the tracks and boats are still forced to wait for mine ship- ments, With shipping again made _ possible through the resumption of operations at the docks, a more determined effort is being made to mine ore. The number of miners returning to work is increas- ing daily. While no accurate figures are obtainable probably very close to 75 per cent of the miners are now working, 10