Mason City, Iowa. – The coal famine still continues. The two brick and tile concerns which were closed last week, received enough coal to resume, but the third, the American, has been compelled to close for lack of coal and 100 men are out of employment. The strange thing is that there is plenty of coal, but it is impossible to get it on account of the lack of engines to move it. This is especially true on the Iowa Central, where the freight crews pick up everything but coal and hustle it thru. (The Minneapolis Journal, Wednesday Evening, December 2, 1903, Page 17)
Walkout at Tile Factory. Mason City, Ia., April 1. – A walkout of seventy men at the Mason City brick and tile factory was caused by the importation of forty Austrians. Other white laborers and the firemen are expected to quit. The company built houses and furnished fuel for the foreigners and gave them $1.60 per day, which the old employees say is unfair. Five hundred men are employed by the company. (The Bemidji Daily Pioneer, Friday Evening, April 17, 1908, Page 2)