Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1879-03-22

pany he commenced his tyranical
work, and for ten years he has been
straining every nerve in bis oo p :
subdue all classes of people to hi
will. In 1859 he entered the field OF
combat under cloak of disguise,
something like Blucher entered the
plains Of Waterloo. At the time
there was dispute between the en-
ployers and employees about wages.
Here Mr.. Gowen stepped in and
backed up the operators to fight the
men, and. as rumor says, it was ac-
knowledged by some Of the operators
that he (Gowen) loaned large sums of
Of money to some of the weaker
operators to carry out the strikes. At
the same time he raised the charges
OF transportation of coal 60 high that
no one could ship over the road, and
many OF the operators acknowledged
to their men that if they could get
the charges of transportation to some
reasonable figure, they would gladly
run their mines and pay the prices
asked by the men. But in this way
he succeeded in breaking up the oper-
ators, or rather he drove them SC
tight against the wall that they pre-
ferred to sell out and quit the field
than to be imposed on in such a way.
But let us pass on to the year 1871.
Here we find another conflict between
the employers and employees, and
dead lock ensued. Very soon the
operators broke faith with each other
and some of the collieries began to
work on the basis of 1869, or what is
called the three dollar basis, and one
after the other the number increased,
week after week until the region Was
pretty much under work again. At
this time the management of the ?.
G. R. railroad company stepped in ana
gave the individual operators their
final tlow, for here he (Mr. Gowen)
adopted and enforced an extraordi-
nary policy that created intense ex-
citement, and led to what is known as
the great coal investigation before
the Judiciary Committee of the Sen
ate. The policy pursued was the
raising Of the tolls so that no one
could chip over their road or any of
its branches. Many operators de-
nounced it with great. bitterness; the
workmen protested strenuously
against it and invoked Legislative in
reference. After the Senate COM
mittes had taken testimon~ H. re-
ported that the legisla iaro Lad, NO
power to apply q remedy. Inns ",~=
the effect Of bad legislation and
proved extremely disastrous to all
parties interested. But all this did
not satisfy his ambition.
We will pass on to 1875, and there
we find Mr.. Gowen s,ashing away at
the retail coal dealers of the city of
Philadelphia, and, although they in
voked legislative interference and
the Judiciary committee of the Senate
sat for some two or three months on
their (the coal dsalers) case, yet it
was of no effect, except to sink the
State funds by drawing their eight
dollars each daily from the State
ressury, besides the cost of ink. q
will allow the reader to judge what
that ink was.) As to their travelling
expenses I will say nothing, although
they travelled hundreds of miles. Tn
this respect Mr.. Gowen was very
obliging to the committee; he furnish
ed them with one of the company 9
private steam coaches to convey them
around at thsir pleasure from city to
city and from town to town. Suffice
it to say at present that Mr.. Cow
en- succeeded in gobhling up great
many retail coal dealers.
All this time Mr.. Gowen's eye was
set on the downfall of the miners as
sociation, an organization which has
done more towards preserving the
peace, preventing Grim, creating
harmony and brotherly love between
the various nationalities than all
other institutions put together. The
great trouble was the combination Of
thirty thousand workingmen who
were not willing to be trodden under
foot by unscrupulous capitalists, and
who can deny them the right to COM
bine? orif any man has aught to say
against the workingmen combining
for the purpose of enforcing what