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

will dispute the workingmen's Slain
to combine when they find that the
operators had organized over yea,
before the men united together
Therefore, l think that the men haa
very respectable antecedents to IL
low, and tolarably good excuse -ol
doing so, when We think of I the
"black list that was kept at each col
liery. Here I will tell you the epur-
poses of this "black list" If man
left his work without the consent Of
the Superintendent, or if he left
through any grievances or dispute
with the boss, his name was put on
the "black list" and sent to every
colliery in the association, so he could
not get work elsewhere within the
limits of their combination. Was
this an act of conspiracy I should
think it was; but as it was the opera
tors that did it there was little notice
taken of it.
The first organization of the opera
tors was in 1867, being an association
of the coal operators north of the
Broad mountain, under the name of
Mahony Valley and Locust Mountain
Coal Association. The success of
this association led to the formation
during the year 1868 of four other
similar societies, namely, the Coal AS
sociation of the Southern Coal Field
of schu uylkill county, located at Potts
ville the Shamokin Coal Exchange,
located at Shamokin; the Mount Car
mel Coal Association, located at
Mount Carmel; the West End Coal
Association, located at fremont; and
also the Anthracite Board of Trade
of the schuylkill Coal Region, con-
sisting of representatives from each
of the above associations, was formed
on the 18th Of November, 1869, with
William Hendricks, Esq, as presi-
dent. This board of trade from that
time forward and up to the present
day is the instrument through which
all negotiations and dealings affecting
wages and disputes between the op-
orators ard the workmen are carried
on, and Mr.. Gowen could approve
of all that was done in Or by the coal
associations. At the same time he
vas trying by every means to victim
ize and vilify the members of the
miners association, although the law
of the country gave the one the same
privileges as the other.
Mr.. Gowen and all his associates
could not make up more than one
case Of conspiracy since the organiza-
ton Of the Workmen's Union, and
that was at colliery where ;hceo
men applied for committee 60 exam
inc their work on their claim for an
advance of price. This appeal was
in accordance with the 7th section
of the 10th article of their by laws.
On the committee sustaining the
mems demand, it was rejected
by the operators. Zone of these oper-
ators was the President Judge of the
court which granted the work
ingmens Association the charter un-
der which they were organized.)
will leave you to Judge what kind
of trial those three men had. They
were convicted and imprisone d.
That was the only case ever brought
against them, and to show the incon-
sistency Of Mr.. Gowen's reports with
the general testimony of his officials
and business community, I will here
give a few statements in their own
words. During the investig cation of
the coal roubles of the Schuylkill re-
gion, the Deputy Commissioner of
statistics made a visit to the county
to gain some information On certain
points at issue. Whilst conversing
with Mr.. Thomas, mining superin-
tendent for the P. & R. r. compa-
ny, he deputy commissioner spoke
to Mr.. Thomas OIL the effects of the
Miners Union. His answer was :
"The character of the workmen has
decidedly improved under its infr-
ence, and everything goes on more
peaceably with the Union than it did
formerly" The deputy commission
er also spoke to Col. D. P. Brown,
Superintendent of the Philadelphia
coal company on the same subject, and
this gentleman says: "The general
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