In the Semiotic Square for the ""copper collar"" (see illustration), Marcus Daly is considered the assertion and Miners is the negation in the first binary pair. The second binary relationship is created on the "control" axis. Union, the not Marcus Daly element, is considered to be the complex term, and ""copper collar"", the Miner element, is the neutral term. Both a union and the ""copper collar"" are things that are used to gain control. The Anaconda Company used the copper collar to gain control of the papers and legislature, and the miners wanted to establish a union to gain some control over their working conditions.