The New York herald., 1871-03-11
THE COAL STRIKE
Carrying Companies Charged With
Violating Their Charters.
Suffering Among the Miners-The workmen Or.
derly but Determined Attempt Of the Read
Ing Railroad Company to Monopoliss tho
Trade No Danger Of q Coal Fs-
mine-Excessive Production the
Cause Of the Disturbance
MAHANoy CITY, Pa, March 0, 49,

MAHANoY CITY, Pa, March o. 49,
Tho miners finding their hopes or success from
every quarter frustrated, turned as a last resort
to Governor Geary. They waited until the carry.
ing companies had increased their tolls to such
fearful aud unheard Of rate that they
violated their charters I'm the estimation
OF the mlners) and then preferred forma!
charges against these companies and induced
Geary TO institute official inquiry. That lnyesl-
CATION Is now In progress at Harrisburg. Lney
ana other officers, the part or the W. b. A. and
Packer, President, OF the Lehigh Valley Railroad.
and other leading railroad officers. have been sub
pgnaed to appear before the Judiciary Committee.
The operators well in this as other counties. find
great deal OF fault with Geary for noticing the de.
mands or the miners for an investigation. They say
Geary is AFTER the miners vote; tnat he VIII trucke
to any party or clique for the sake OF gaining few
votes. They do feel inclined TO grant the miners
the rights enjoyed by other citizens. Does 1t look
right that these miners aside from their political
influence should be ignored because OF their lack Of
funds to hX lobbyists Geaiy could not act ainer.
entity and fuinl the obligations OF his ONCE
Whether the carrying companies have violated
their charters remans to be seen The inves gation
now IN progress VIII determine that. 1t can do
harm to decide this question; 1t Will be precedent
for future action.
There Is much suffering among the miners'
families, many OF them IN want for the common
necesssries n. Of llte, and, what is worse the
Il nearly depleted. With all these gathering
Ills the miners still remain nrm. Some out
1t Is feared, Will follow The only wonder that tha
miners have renamed so passive under the grave
member OF the Worklngmens Benevolent AS
e@ IN es o wo SSrsxss
the outrage at Mount Carmel, one county
ss1s fsMald 81 sssS ro4 r0qsa sr s @
and conviction. Could anything be done that
would have y e., a -, tendency TO more emphatically
organ that these outrages planned and CON
cocted at the secret meetings OF the Workingmen's
THE READING RAILROAD COMPANY
nave recently a mt upon new plan 70 contro! the
purchase OF the principal coal lands IN Schuylkhl
ana a Carbon countless Already two bills are before
ana American Coal Companies. These Bills
are are 6eg put through @ BY the the Read
in e Ia s aRa ,y
interests In Pennsylvania, and what seems rather
strange, the operators are disposed TO favor the
Reading road IN Its endeavor5 TO monopoZe the
business. whether 1t arises from the fact that the
operators are tired Of these periodical, strikes and
thlnk they now have chance to dispose Of their col
lleries at good figure and get OFT business that
ls attended with much anxiety and at times great
''old thing works'' better when controlled ny the
few, know not. Yet the fact remains. these men
are Wiling even anxious to see the whole thing
shall control the price OF coal and be enabled 10
land II at tdeWater at uniform price the year
round
The Reading Railroad Is a very ambitious com.
pany. They now own perfect network OF roads
extending in oil directions throughout the coal
regions aad they are constantly periecing new
plans for other roads In fine they aim to m0n0p0.
lize the coal BUSINESS, and they have enough money
to carry out their schemes. 1t Is only question o.
time.
IN scHUYLKILI COUNTY
tnere are something over two hundred collierieS,
with an invested capital Of about twelve millions OF
dollars. Some operators have 5000 600 invested in
In- ,,<y
$4,000, stated above The Average loss per col.
nsr 11sry nnnlS wn,e lying Idle at least coo
per month, or So. 100, 900 per year, dead s loss.
which, taken with the loss to The railroad companies
100000 per month"; or S. SoO 900 per year This. tt
must be understood Is the loss entailed by s0spen-
% e"n mn TO ,as snor
combinations that will submit to these losses so long
as they have done VIII submit TO further losses TO
road Mr. Gowen remarked to Mr. PATTERSON, Of
NorrstoWn 1--WE We VIII fgni this thing to the end lf
hand, can only grin and bear their surerings They
nave no s60oO,ooo to spend-nor s., 900. Their
In conversation with John Parker, editor Of the
Anr@ene AZ, A9a'soi last evening he said:-The
Stocking @ the maSes With ceai sad IN aTe sna
thereby Inducing suspension, is TO have the
ns men :, work but five days in week; this
keep the price at fair figure. In fact" said Par.
ker, "there are too many miners In the region.
sake OF making money that they soon oyerstock
the market, prices fall reduction ensues and sls-
pension follows as naturally as the ngEt follows
There have been rumors OF resumption in tho
Luzerne region, but the rumor needs confirmation.
ScAnylL miners express the conviction that the
Luzerne men VIII stick to them to the last; they say
the miners throughout the whole extent OF
na dae resard r aSs their m me nsress '0s %
cause them to keep up the combination ave are
me few days ago. 'and we viii hang together Til
the crack OF doomr Some little coal Is being mined
at shamokin, but this is mainly for local c6nsump-
lion. One hundred and forty cars passed through
Mahanoy yesterday; about 200 cars passed down the
Ksi2Mg nag road yesterday for Philadelphia aud way
The Reading Company is stocking some coal az
u tneir Kicnmond t wharves, SO soon as navigation
There Is no danger or coal famine. The public
can afford to let the giants fight.
Waiting for the Legislative Iuvcstigation.-In.
dications of n General Resumption Of work
MAHANoY CITY, March 10, 1871.
The miners are very anxlously awaiting the re-
suit of the Legislative Investigations at Harrisburg.
The general impression Is that they will continue to
hold out II the result is favorable to their side OF the
question. i not they Will generally resume on the
best terms they can get.
mems Benevolent Association will be called for
Manch Chunk next week to take action on the Har-
There are about seven hundred miners at work in
.ns sch@yiEiil region at present on Iae three dollar
fifteen dollars is paid.
Indications Of general resumption throughout
kSrs and more more apparent. '' Wy ~ '''0""t
The miners are generally quiet.
w. -------------
THE SLIME OF POLITICS."
The Por,;san snI Ncs. PARTISAN Police Arf,s.