The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-25

which the men have been enabled to work in
unison.
In 1869, when many of the mine owners
bad 30 much coal on hand, and the price had
gone SO low that many of the smaller ope-
rat0rs and some of the railroad companies
were trembling on the verge of bankruptcy
they we're glad enough to get the Miners
ASSOCIATION TO consent TO pesceable suspen-
sion, in order TO relieve the market of the
excessive stocks. But when they had sue
ceeded in putting up the price aud had
palmed off their accumulated surplus on the
public ut high figures they wanted the meu
to go to work at the old rate of wages which
the men naturally refused They said: =
"You asked us to stand idle,
in order to enable you to get more
money out of your stocks and save you
from bankruptcy. We think we are entitled
to participate in the profits, which Won derived
partly at our expense" Out of this grew
what is called the basis system," by which
the wages OF the men are regulated in accord
ance with the selling price of coal at the
principal points OF shipment near the mines.
Almost all the mine owners accepted the basis
system. But for the overgrown railroad COM
pHnies, who are the largest coal mine owners,
and who are accustomed TO dictate despot
cally alike to their employees, whom they pay,
and to the public, the idea that the man
should participate in their profits is utterly
uDbearable.
When at the close of 1870 it was evident
that the mine owners had again produced
more coal than the market was able to take,
they again got the Miners Association to con-
sent TO q peaceable suspension by means of
which they we're enabled to again advance
the price on the public work off their sto SIX
at high figures, and make the public believe
that the sole cause of the advance was the
upfairDess of the working miners. This idea
appears to exist to-day. At meeting of
the coal operators, carrying companies
and iron manufacturers held in Philadelphia
on Thursday, series of resolutions were
adopted, which were directed almost entirely
to the terms 10y which the working miners
could be controlled. It is evident enough,
We think, that the advance in the price of
coal does not originate in the coal mining
districts, but comes exclusively from an
infamous combination between the Pennsyl-
vanla railroad companies and the coal ope-
rators. There is, doubtless, plenty of coal
III the mining regions. An advertisement in
Harrisburg paper of Tuesday, for instance,
announces in the ordinary way that coal is
continued TO he sold at certain establish ment
for four dollars atom, carefully screened At that
From statement made by the To wanda Coal
Company 1t appears that the actual cost of
coal per ton, delivered any nywhere on the line
OF the Erie Railroad, is only one dollar aud
seventy-eight cents. These facts prove
almost positively that We are indebted to the
Pennsylvania railroad monopoles for the
present coal fraud. They prove also the
necessity of Congress taking immediate steps
to put the railroads throughout the country
under the management of the Government.
Nething else can save us from such intoler-
able evils as this villanous extortion of iu-
creasing tbree-fold the rate of transportation,
and thus advancing the price of coal to four
times its actual value. The citizens should
rise up in public meeting and demand of
Congress to take instant action in this IN after