STEIKE AT GORDON'S MINE 241 



loss to the Company of the coal used, the wear 

 and tear of the instruments, and the interest, 

 taxes, insurance, and degeneration of the plant. 

 Is the Company under obligation to lose this 

 money for you ? Not at all ! The Company 

 does this as an accommodation and a gratuity 

 to you, but not as a duty. Just as much coal 

 would be taken from the Gordon mine if your 

 tools were never sharpened, only it would require 

 more men, and you would earn less money apiece. 

 You could not get this sharpening done at pri- 

 vate shops so cheaply, and you cannot do it 

 yourselves. You have no more right to ask the 

 Company to do this work for nothing than you 

 have to ask it to buy your tools for you. It 

 would be just as sensible for you to strike be- 

 cause the Company did not send each of you ten 

 cents' worth of ice-cream every Sunday morning, 

 as it is for you to go out on this matter of sharp- 

 ening tools. 



"But, suppose the Company were in duty 

 bound to do this thing for you, and suppose it 

 should refuse ; would that be a good reason for 

 quitting work ? Not by any means ! You are 

 earning an average of $2 a day, nearly $16,000 

 a month. You've < been out ' six weeks. If you 

 gain your point, it will take you fifteen years to 

 make up what you've already lost. If you have 

 the sense which God gives geese, you will see 

 that you can't afford this sort of thing. 



But the end is not yet. You are likely to 



