The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-04
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CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS.
An ALI night Session.
ExcitingScenes BefOreAdjuurnment
The Goal mining Trouble.
WOrkingmen'S Benevolent AsSOC'n.
Address of President Really.
Brutal Murder of a Miner.
ETC., Etc.. ETC., ETC., Etc.
Address of President Really.
Brutal Murder of a Miner
FROM THE STATE.

Inc ImDrOAuO IN tne OOul NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
tiOD of Their Case by the diIners.
Srecial Despatch to The EOening Telegraph.
SCRANTON, March 4.-The following, from
the Scranton Republican, is the address of Pre-
sident Really, of the Workingmen's Benevolent
Association
To the Public:-Who is responsible for the
scarcity and high price OF coal! is the question
that looms up in fearful Importance. 1t comes
home to all, because coal is one of the necessi-
ties of every household; also because a supply
at reasonable prices is absolutely necessary to
the continuance of those great manufacturing
interests which give employment to and by
which millions earn their daily bread. The
poor widow and the wealthy ironmaster
.ndte Inlte u, in h. utterng imprecations on
prices to so advance that the ireside of the one
has become cherries and the fortaue of the
other lies forever buried in his chilled furnaces.
Who deserve the just indignation of an out
ragged public? Upon whom should the impre-
cations of the orphan and the widow, of the
wealthy reduced to poverty, fall? Who is the
guilty party? The public, through the press of
the land, answer-the coal miner name, from
its reported associations of love of idleness,
demands of exorbitant wages, backened by
being accused of foul crimes, has become in
famous, and has become in every household
around the coal region a veritabe raw-head aud
bloody bones.
The papers charge the Workingmens Beaevo-
lent Association with a coal crisis. Silence
gives consent Men ask When have we seen
statement Ol luC uulOu Ol Iulu6TS anu ldDOT6r5
in the coal fields corrected, a single accusation
refuted? Has a single organ, except their own
official organ, printed line in defense or eX-
tenuation of their course? No! AS. proof men
cite the Miners Journal, paper published in
the interests of the coal fields. Its veteran editor
with more than quarter OF century's eXpe-
rience, yet controls paper most bitter in its
denunciations of the union, and profuse in de
picting in their true colors (black) the inius-
tice, at home and abroad, of the w. b. A.
1t says "One thing is certain: operators rail-
| road corporations, and the public press, are
| against the w. B. A." Has the public ever asked
the question, Is the miner the only person in-
terested in advancing the price of coal? Have
| operators refused to sell at high rates? Have
they given the workmen the benefit of high
| prices? Have the railroads raised the tonnage
! TO double amounts for the benefit Of the public
during the time of the coal famine? When pro-
perty is opposed to wealth. when when
sp side tTugphs is money less powerful with the
| press than with our legislators Money to-day
is the lion of the fable-divide the piece into as
| many parts as you please, he will have attrl-
butes which lay claim to all but one, and who
claims that is his enemy. The wealth of one
| may be a reason why he is loud-nouthed: the
poverty of another why he is so irate. We, the
recognized officers of the Workingmens Benevo-
lent Association, feel that it would be
criminal in us longer to lie under
| the foul charges which by interested parties
have been heaped upon The men of the coal
4 region. We feel it to be not only our privilege
I but our duty to refute the many multifarious
| accusations which from time to time have been
brought before the public by our avowed ne
mics, or by those who were deceived by them,
! or who through ignorance of our cause and
I motives maligned us, but whese statements were
even less credible.
This defense we do not propose to make by
entering the lists with any particular enemy or
enemies, by making this or that charge or in
sinuation, when it is an impossibility, but by q
brief, clear, and truthful statement of the object
of our union, and the means by which it wa;
intended, and by which we have endeavered, tc
carry that object ont, leaving to the
voice of discriminating public
whether it was just object
or whether their laws, acquisitions, or actions
have brought about the deplorable situation II
which poor man is compelled to spend two
thirds of his months wages to purchase ton o
coal. II is not our intention TO weary the pub
lie by long rehearsal OF all the motives tina
impeed the men of the coal region to form tn,
WOTkingmens Benevolent Association. We will
not speak of the necessity of men employed il
the Jaws of death being banded togethe
for mutual protection, in time of need, to secqr
legislation that would require operators VIII,
otherwise did not value the life of an employ
as much as that of mule, because the forme
entailed no personal loss, to adopt such mea
sures and go to such expense as would Civ
some security to those who were in the bowel
of the earth, and for such humane precaution
as could avoid those terrible disasters fraugb
with such destruction to human life. These an
, other interests dear to the w. b. A we will pas
, ever, because they concern only human life au
, the alleviation of human misery.
We will come down to the question of dollar
and cents, which just now most interests Oh
: public, and tell them how the organizatio
works in regard to suspension, aud consequent
, how it affects the supply and price of coal. VIII
: | does The w. b. A. decree and require suspel
q sons and strikes? Because the coal fields no
opened, when worked to their full capacit.
would throw into the market supply one-fft
in excess of the demand; or, in other word
would send TO market 81, ,000, 900 tons, where's
only 10000 600 tons can be used.
Hence, If there was no suspension 5000 OF
g tons more would be produced than could
s used. The consequence of the entire force
q the coal region working constantly for thrI
$ years would be, that coal would so deprecla
2 that the price for ton of coal would not pa
y the operator, much less pay living wages to ii
81 miners 1t is an indisputabe fact, Also that Il
5, operators recognize the necessity of suspensio
1t There are two remedies for this surplus of ii
A. supply. The first is for those who know nothil
Is of the workings of the coal region, and tho
le who cannot find constant employment, TO en-
N Krate where they can find constant and remunI