McGinnis said that the Company has no
right to charge you for keeping your tools sharp. In one sense this is
true. You have a perfect right to work with dull tools, if you wish to;
you have the right to sharpen your own tools; and you also have the
right to hire any one else to do it for you. You work 'by the ton,' you
own your pickaxes and shovels from handle to blade, and you have the
right to do with them as you please.
"There are three hundred of you who use tools; you each pay ten cents a
week to the Company for keeping them sharp,--that is, in round numbers,
$1500 a year. There are two smiths at work at $50 a month (that is
$1200), and a helper at $25 a month ($300 more), making just $1500 paid
by the Company in wages. If you will think this matter out, you will see
that there is a dead 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.
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