The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-11-06


D any policy for the guidance of members
serves no purpose, though it sees how 81
| cidal certain course its members, swaye
by the district, have adopted; it cam,
say imperatively, do so and so, for tt
} Constitution so directs, and have
done. 1t cannot say certain line onl
} should be followed to make given poin
because it has no jurisdiction over tn
predominant numbers, and this fact reI
ders them powerless, in a great degree, I
do real reformatory work. Organizatio
Is the very first requisite of districi
and those districts should be shaped wit
an eye single to the effect each part Q
which it is composed has upon a give
market, and not simply for the conven
lence Of members, as is commonly tn
case. No step should be taken when tn
work OF organization and discipline is go
ing on that hazards its completion, becaus
II Is sure to work inversely to the interest
Of all concerned. To complete this worI
before taking any action towards maxim,
reforms should be the aim of all officer
OF the Association and all friends Of pro
gress for our people. To illustrate tn,
baneful effect Of this, | simply refer yol
to the Tuscarawas Valley case OF las
spring, the history Of which you are al
more or less familiar with. | need not re
cite it here.
The story Of 1875, so far as we are con
cerned, is told by that of 1874 strike.
against reductions and resulting defeats
The opposition everywhere is too strong
for the force of our men. The hard coal
| fight, though not the longest, was the
greatest contest of several years on this
side the Atlantic 1t lasted six months
and the men suffered many hardships. The
associated companies, with some hundreds
of millions of dollars to sustain them,
| against about thirty thousand poor men
but lily prepared to resist their terms for
such length of time Capital spent lib
orally and calmly waited the capitulation
of its victim, labor. 1t was forced to
yield in SIX months time Eight months
might have brought different conclusion,
but the workmen could not endure that
length Of time. They yielded, and the
chances are the coal kings will make up all
they lost by the struggle ere the year
closes. Not so with the workmen They
were beaten because they had not prepared
themselves beforehand for such All en-
counter. 1t should have been done. No
trouble Of a very serious kind had existed
there since 1871. Here were three years
they had to make ready, and in that time
they, by judiclously tending, their union
could have been III a position to have
waited on the companies for one year
But this was neglected, and they had to
pay the penalty by reduction In wages,
that, viewed from the ruling prices in the
markets, was uncalled for at that time
Indiana also had strike seven hundred
men were directly involved. 1t was also
against reduction Of wages. They, to a
very great extent, had no union among
themselves, and had made no provision
for struggle when they entered into it,
Their entire support was drawn out Of
other places during the seven long months
they were i'll the field. Defeat was their
portion also, as you have by the Record
been officially informed. Mahoning also
made strike, or rather the general off
GERS were responsible for it. This district,
with the Shenango Valley, had suffered as
much, by way Of reductions in their
wages, if not more, than any one district
III the whole country at the time the strike
was inaugurated. The coal companies,
however, were not satisfied with what had
had been submitted to, and 1t was great
deal. The workmen had come down about
fifty per cent. in about two years, and
they were urging another reduction from
ten to twenty per cent. IN extent. This
was certainly carrying afairi with a high
hand, and after prices both for coal and
iron had ceased to 60 down in the market.
This we considered a real cause for inter-
ference, and we really encouraged a strike.
if nothing else would serve to have the
employers withdraw the proposition to re-
duce as last made. To this end only was
there any council given tending to have a
strike. The strike in Mahoning Valley
lasted about three months, the general
strike in Shenango for over seven, and
some works are still resisting the deter
mination Of the employers to reduce the
others having settled at the old figures
from which they were to be reduced.
These have been out now since the 4th of
February, and deserve special considera-
tion at the hands OF all miners of the
country.
THE STORY OF CLEARFIELD.
At Houtzdale, Clearfield Co., a strike
also took place. We had in the organiza
tion there over four hundred members out
Of nearly fifteen hundred in the district
This strike differed from the others, mas
much AS it aimed to recover ten cents per
ton that had been taken from their price
in the fall of 1873. The history of this
case you all know, and what painful one
it is. Parks, Ralf Parks, Joyce, NAL
loney and Burchell are now in the peni-
tentiary, and the victory Of the coal COM
panies there is only incomplete, because /,
too, am not keeping them company. Con-
sidering the state of the country, this was
a most foolish strike, and could not Ger
tainly have succeeded by the usual course
of events But it was gone into, and
against the councils Of this Organization.
The case, with others, was laid before our
Executive Board last April, and when
SILLY explained to them received no coun-
tenance whatever. 1t went on, however,
and Mr.. Parks, our organizer, upon the
supplication Of the miners of that dis
trict, was permitted to stay there, not "a
lead them in the strike, or encou ragethem
therein, but to advise them on general
principles for their good under the terms
Of his commission. He did stay, and got
M xed up with the strike and became a
prominent figure IN it, not as law break
er, though in prison as such, but as pre-.
server of the peace, and an assistant in
the use Of every honorable means to make
the cause of the workmen a success as he
and they viewed it. My own connection
with the case has been pretty much told il
the Record some months ago, and other
wise, and you know how closely came t.
keeping poor Xingo and the others com
pany in the State buildings. Our prose
cution was pursued by the mine owners o
Clearfeld, and the Pennsylvania Centra
Railroad also, it is supposed, from the be
lief that we were the instigators of tina
strike, and that 1 make it my business t.
make strikes between the workmen an
the employers generally. OF course thi
is mistake, but they thought so, and it i
the opinion of many others that such i