The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-01-06
The MINERS QUIT WORK.
Nearly all tho Reading cosapsny's 60

Nearly an tho Reading Gosapany's Coal
Shafts Are FdIe i'm Consequence CT a,
Strike of I5,3se dTners-The Fight
Desperate oae, and Likely to Continue
for Montas-A Coal Famine Eeareds
READ4Nes< Pa, Jan 4-The miners haTe
challenged President Corbin of the Reading
Railroad Company to battle. and the latter
SAYS he is ready. Every colIieey owned by
the Reading Company with daily capacity
of 81. 600 tons of coal is idle. This is re-
garded by business men throughout the en-
tire sshuylkiil regions and Eastern Penn
sylyania with great alarm. There is prac-
tically no coal of any consequence any
Where. and. with pfotracted strike, great
loss would eElsue
The Reading Company temporarily sus-
pended about 80 crews last evening, ana
this is interpreted to mean that the offlclais
are making preparations for long ami
bitter struggle. They say they are deter
termined TO down the Knights of Labor,
and feel confident that they will succeed
Said an officer last night: @We have driven
the order from the railroad, and We pro
pose to serve the miners in the same mali
her"
Orders We're sent out to the miners en-
bl0Yed at the individual colGeries directing
all hands to resume work where the 81. 90
basis is accepted, and quite number OF such
collieres We're started up yesterday morn
fng, but only with about half the usual force
OF hands 1t is claimed by President Lally
and other leaders of the Miners and
Laborers' Amalgamated Association anG
Knights of Labor that if the Reading
Company furnishes the individual COZ
1ieries with sufficient cars they can
keep the Heading men out indefinitely. The
Reading officials know this, and it is not
liRefy Ghey will consent to bargain OF that
kind.
1t is estimated that $1,000 miners i'll tlle
SchuylhiIl region are idle. At Shamokin
the strike went into effect yesterday MORN
ing and all the Reading collieries except
two were without men. The miners in the
individual collieries also struck, but an ar
! fangemen6 was entered into at the Nelson
shaft, the Excelsior, the Hickory Ridge,
the Hickory Swamp and the Lancaster COL
lieries whereby the proprieters agree TO pay
the old rate of wages Until the strike IL
settled The colIieros n0a' idle IN
shamokin gave employment to ., 500 1aen;
| AdTiGas received from a number oil
points in the coal regions show that very
| few collieries are workhte; In most cases
| the employees did not go to WORK yesterday
morning, and it is believed long and bft7
| ter struggle will be the result The Read
| ing collieries at Shamokin and all between
! Ashland and that place are also idle The
railroad is working smoothly, and little
difficulty is experienced III moving freight
and coal All the engines ON the
| Mahanoy division are now manned and
| worked. At Shenandoah all the Reading
railroad miners are out Lentz, Lilly u
| Co., operating the Park collieries; j. G,
Hayden & Co., operating Glendon colliery;
| Kneval Brothers, operating Primrose col
| liery, all situated near Mahanoy City,
have decided to pay the present rate OF
wages and continue work pending the
| final settlement by the Reading Company.
| Other individual operators will do the
| same.
The strike, if prolonged, will cause great
loss and suffering from Lack of coal. None
| of the iron works or furnaces have more
| than a weeks supply, and they depend for
| their daily supply on the Reading railroad
OF the siXty-eight collieries III the Schuyl-
| kill region, forty of the largest of which
are. controlled by the Reading Company, but
| six are at work. The members of the
| Knights of Labor in Philadelphia while re-
| fusing to strike, have promised the Schuyl-
| kill miners financial support, the same
! as they are giving the men in the Lehigh
region. There is a movement ON foot
| among the business men of the Schuylkill
valley to hold a meeting and bring such
pressure to bear upon President Cor
bin as to cause him to consent to arbitra-
ton of the miners strike at least 1t is ar
gued that the immense industries of the
eastern section of the State can not afford
such a fearful paralysis of business and
trade The strike will not only throw 80
/ 600 miners out of employment, but 80, 00C
ironworkers as well.
1t is learned officially that six of the CON-
| pany's best colleries are in full operation.
| These are the Suffolk at Mahanoy the two
| North Franklin colleries at Herndon, the
Brookside in the Lykens valley and the
| Richardson and Glendover at Heckscher-
| vile
| The joint committee of the Miners Anal
| gamated Association and the Knights OF
Labor met in Pottsville yesterday and pro-
| muigated counter-statement to that is
sued by President Corbin of the Reading
| road few days ago They declare
that the agreement for four months
! from last September as signed diff
| fers materially from the one made
pnblic. They point out that Mr. Cor,
| bin said in his circular that the Reading
would never pay less than other companies
and say that already eleven companies have
| conceded their demands. The manifesto
| declares that the die is cast and that gen.
eral strike at all the ffty-fv collieries Of
the Reading Company and all other collier
les in this region except those concedine
the per cent advance will be inaugurateC
this morning.
The effects of the strike will be felt fan
| beyond the confines of Reading railroad
territory. Coal will advance in price all
over the Eastern States In the COM
| pany's territory are located thirty
| eight pig-iron furnaces, besides hun
dreds of foundries, rolling mills etc.
Not one of these has over a weeks
supply of coal on hand. These es-
adjustments are located in Reading, Har-
risburg, Allentown, Pottstown, Easton,
| Norristown, Ph9nixville and smaller
cities, and in towns in Penn
sylvania and through New Jersey and every
| one must shut down If the strike lasts
ten days Some have been running short
| of coal for a month. Orders were sent in
| for the coal, but the officials were unable
| to fill them because of the strike on
| the railroad Now all these immense
| industries must shut down, and it is
estimated that in the district named over
100000 men are employed, upon whom a
vast host of people depend for support.
The coal supply in all tie interior towns is
running short
General Master Workman Powderly has
| advised that no strike take place. He has
| telegraphed here that he considered it mad
| yisable.