The Evening critic., 1882-03-30
THE MINERS, STRIKE.


Affairs i'm the Cumberland Goa, Re-
gion-Contest ofLabor Against Cap.
ital--Payipg OF and Closing the
Mines -Rumors that New Miners
are 60 be Introduced.
A dispatch to the Baltimore Sun from Frost
burg, Nd, dated the Doth, says:
traveller passing through this picturesque
country-the great Cumberland coal region
thirty-four miles long by about lve miles
wide, would be struck with Its natural beauty
and attractiveness, but would see nothing to
indicate the giant struggle going on hero be-
tween labor and capital. He would not on tho
surface, sec any signs to indicate that three
thousand miners and eight hundred laborers,
carpenters and mechanics, aggregating, with
their families, fifteen thousand two hundred,
were contending In all the carnestness OF their
nature against the representatives of $780,
100000 invested in mining and shipment OF
the semi-bituminous Goals of this region. Yet
such giant contest is In progress, apg .,sakinr
such headway that Il is thought The tramp Of
the armed soldier Will be ,neard on these hills
by April 10. The~sontending parties iii this
passed., sod aSd ali ali are Waiting tho
I v sues of the future quietly and In dignined
manner, but evidently with no little anxiety.
To the numerous combined coal companies 1t
is a matter OF profit or loss, while to the miners
II means submission to the Will OF their en-
| ployers or expatriation. The order and qui-
line of the railroad the employees are seen on
| holidays, but now they are at their homes fix.
ing up their gardens and doing similar domes-
| tic work, not standing In groups talking the
situation over nor singly hunting news.
The disposition of the men and the regula-
tions governing them seem to be exceptionally
| good. The men have returned all the tools
belonging to the companies, and tomorrow the
formal discharge OF all the minors heretofore
employed by the Consolidation Coal Company
takes place, after they have received payment
in full at siSty-nye cents per ton for all coal
| mined between March and March Ii. After
| this ii is said all intercourse between the COM
| pany and the men Will cease; that the coal COM
| pany will then be at liberty to hire them as
| they would men who are strangers to the
| mines. The paying of VIII commence at Ocean
| mine, the paymastor'S car afterward running
| to Frostburg and then to Eckhart mine, to pay
| ing of is supposed by the miners to be
| the winding up Of everything, preparatory to
| big wait for n settlement OF existing DIM
| culties, but such is evidently not the view OF
| the capitalists and managers Tho miners,
from their position here and the assistance
| which II is stated they VIII receive when 1t Is
necessary from the Knights OF Labor In other
| sections, can probably endure a long-con
tinued strike without serious Inconvenience,
while q prolonged abandonment of the mines
must necessarily infiict very heavy damage
ON the owners of the coal properties. In a
| word, IL the two great combatants were to de
eide on firing each other out the coal prod uci
OF this section would disappear for an indef
mite period, and probably for some consider
| opinions are entitled TO consideration
aSroaa viii neSr be- broush
TO this section to work one or more
of the mines 1t is not intended to bring the
new men here in such force now as will en-
able the managers to open all the mines a
once, but only one or two of them, and theI
arrange for the others afterward. These new
miners, 1t is stated by those who claim t
know, will be accompanied by such heav!
guards in the shape of soldiers and policemen
as will insure them against attack from th
81 min hpr INDIGNANT
think there would be any outbreak in conse
quence of the arrival in this section OF nev
that In the end the companies would lose 8
much by them that the mines would b
closed, and this on account Of the new, me-
| being unable, through Ignorance of tn
structures of these mines, to handle the coa
TO advantage. In this view more than one IL
telligent man on the other side comedies so ia
as to say that the new comers could not wor
l the mines to the same advantage as the pres
ent miners. The statements of intelligent me
who have worked In these mines for period
, varying from twenty to thirty years, and VIII
talk attract1vely possess no small interest 70
those who study human life In all Its variou
phases They admit that mining here is nc
as hard as 1t was years ago, nor quite so init
rious to health, but say mildly, though firmly
companies com for breaking np, as they ailege ha
been done, the comparative little comfort {
the miners life by taking fifteen cents per to
off the mining of COAL and that, too, at the tim
when coal was advancing.
McClellan's system OF masterly inactivity
! the one relied on here now, ana II is a matte
d | of dispute as to how long 1t Will be before Il
+ | mine managers in New York and Baltimo
will decide to abandon similar line OF CO
n duct and send on the new miners, who, 1t
N said, are to supersede those SO long engage
n in developing this section. The arrival
" these expected new miners will probably
the only striking thing to chronicle for son
70 time.
n 1t is currently rumored this evening tn
10 the coal companies have agreed to have co
ference with committee appointed by Il
ls miners, TO be held in Baltimore at an ear
n, day, for the discussion Of their difference
m with view of adjusting them, but the feelii
is not buoyant that the conference VIII enc
e | anything.