Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-09-11
HOOKING VALLEY.
The Most Orderly Strike Ever Known
in That Section
Former Troubles Among the Miners
as Compared With the Present,
And the Part Played by Those Who
Were i'm Authority.

COLUMBUS, O., September 3.-An-
other day has passed, and the Repub-
lican campaign of murder and arson
in the Hooking Valley has not yet
been opened, thanks to the courage
and foresight of the Democratic Gov.
ernor of Ohio. Even the lazy news,
paper men who drew their information
from Republican headquarters have
ceased to burn property and kill men
ion paper, and that craziest and most
rabid of all sheets, the Ohio State
Journal, has subsidized, and is printed
in ink this morning, instead of blood.
The gun was loaded to fire in the
right direction, but it kicked, much to
the CONSERVATION of the cute Republi-
can managers who were anxious and
willing to see the militia murder few
dozen miners and idle worklngmen in
cold blood in order to convince the
laborers of Ohio that the Democrats
were not fit to be trusted with power.
The conduct of Governor Hoadly,
when contrasted with that of Cover
nor Foster under similar circumstan.
ces. shines forth in the patriotic acts
of wise, disinterested and conserva-
tive citizen and officer who believes
that men have some rights under the
law as we'll as money.
A few years ago, during his first
term, Governor Foster was called on
to send troops to Corning to oppose a
few miners and protect his own friends
who had been associated with himself
in forming a syndicate to water the
stockholders of the Ohio Central Rail-
road and Mining Company. The
stock was watered, suckers were taken
in, and Governor Foster and his
friends walked off with few cool
millions in their pockets, leaving fools
to hold the bag. The capital invested
was so large that it could not earn an
honest interest on the investment, and
it was resolved, in order to make the
investment pay, to cut down the wages
of the miners. A property worth
$4,000, 900 Or $3,OOO,OOO was flooded
with watered stock until it had over
100000 worth of bonds out.
Before the first strike at Corning
Ohio Central bonds we're quoted at
forty and fifty cents in the market.
In to-days report they are quoted at
three and half cents. Colored men
and others were imported under con.
tract to work at atreduced wages to take
the place of the legitimate miners.
When his friends called on him to
send the militia, Governor Foster
promptly ordered out the troops to
protect his own property. He did not
go to Corning. He did not want to.
He did not dare to. He knew the
first cause of the trouble and wisely
stayed away. The militia went; men
were killed; the miners were awed and
driven out. The strike ended and
peace reigned in Warsaw, and the tax
payers of Ohio footed the bills.
The same condition of affairs exists
in the Hooking Valley. A syndicate
of spectators, headed by James G.
Blaine, the Republican candidate for
President, Charles Foster ct al, in
1881 formed a company to buy the
whole Hooking Valley and put roof
over it. Another syndicate purchased
the Hooking Valley Road, the best
paying railroad property in the United
States for the capital invested. The
stock was watered. The bonds of q
corporation that we're worth $50 cents
on the dollar four years ago, are only
worth sixty cents now.
The road cannot earn enough to pay
the interest on the investment 1t
charges such high freight rates that
the operators can not mine coal a.
seventy cents ton, pay eighty cents
ton to ship, and other expenses and
put it on the market at profit. They
resolve to cut down expenses, and they
begin with labor, and say they cannot
mine coal at profit and pay the min.
er more than fifty cents ton for min
ing. The operators combine to force
these wages on the miners and compel
this great reduction. The miers com.
bine to resist the reduction.
There are three comblnations-tht
railroad, the syndicate and the Goa
Exchange, representing from SIS, 900
900 to 2O,OOO,O0O in capital, acrayed
against three thousand miners. The
operators, unwilling to trust citizens
Of Ohio, import strangers and arms
under the direction of Pinkerton's
agency to protect their property. They
had a right to do this They counted
the cost before they started, but thu
miners perceived their advantage anc
concluded that they could remain idl'
longer than the operators could main
tain their force of armed men. Th'
strike has lasted ten weeks and oper
ators could stand the heavy expens
no longer, and wanted the State t,
come to their rescue by sending troop
to take the place of their hired guards
Knowing their advantages the miner
were careful to avoid breaking tn
peace, knowing that if they did i
would be justification for calling on
the militia.
Considering the provocation, tn
length Of the strike and the bitterness
- lac I,ox ana of th