Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-19


request, which was special mark of con-
slderation, as the Prince, being in feeble
health, rarely goes out or receives anyone.
To-day was the first time any of the dele
| gates showed willingness to talk to news
paper man about the work accomplished.
This morning when representative of the
| Associated Press visited Mr.. Phelps at the
Kaiserhof Hotel, where the commissioner
was found up to his ewes in work, and an
nounced his mission, Mr.. Phelps said:
The proceedings of the conference can
not disclose, but may say through you to
America that nothing is interfering with
the successful conclusion of our labors; and
| the cry of the European press is that Ger
many is giving up everything. This charge
| is persistently made, and is naturally
Irritating our co-laborers.
MUTUAL CONCESSIONS.
Moreover, it is not true mutual conces-
| sions have been made. Germany is as will
! ing as America to yield anything that
would insure Samoan independence and
| give the natives q better chance. This is
the prime impulse of the German as well as
| of the American delegation. The best indi-
| cation that the Samoan conference is near
| ing successful close is found in the fact that
the Emperor has invited all the me mbers to
reception at the Schloss on Monday.
Only few days ago the delegates were
| informed that an audience could not be
| given earlier than the 9th inst. The pro-
ceedings at yesterdays sitting showed such
progress toward an assured settlement on
every point that Prince Bismarck decided
to expedite the reception.
The National Gazette says that another
plenary sitting will conclude the confer
ence. The foreign Office, however, does not
expect so speedy termination. The Com
mittee on Form of Government will present
an amended report on Tuesday. The same
sitting will hear parts of the protocol pre-
pared on land tenure and the municipal ad-
ministration of Apia. In view of the de-
tailed work remaining to be disposed of
two or more plenary sittings appear to be
inevitable.
A CHANGE OF DELEGATES.
Lieutenant Buckingham has received
summons on official business in London and
will leave OF Tuesday. He will be replaced
in the conference by Mr.. Crosby, the Second
Secretary of the Legation. Mr.. Grove will
return to his post at the English Embassy
in Paris ons the 28th> inst. Sir Edward
Malet, the British Ambassador, will enter
tain the delegates before Mr.. Groves de-
parture. Count Herbert Bismarck will
give grand banquet at the close of the con-
ference.
The Emperor, impatient at the delay in
bringing about peace between the miners
and employers, has directed the President
of the province of Westphalia to convey to
the mining companies his emphatic desire
to accelerate a compromise. 1t is reported
that the President has resigned, the EN-
peror blaming him for allowing affairs to
drift and also for sending out false alarms
as to encounters between strikers and the
military.
DR.. Hintzpeter, who is now, by command
of the Emperor, making a tour of the strike
districts in order to hear both sides, is
charged to warn the mine owners that the
Government will resent their action if they
refuse to grant the essential claims of the
men.
THE GOVERNMENTS POWER.
The power of the Government to make
employers feel the weight of its dlspleasure
lies at hand. The mine owners have OBJ
tanned during recent years many favors.
They have secured special tariffs through
out Germany and have been granted low
freight rates to Hamburg, Bremen, Bel
gium and Holland in order to enable them
to compete with English coal. These privi-
are contumacious.
While the state of the mines is most pros
porous, the condition of the men is yearly
more wretched. The Bourse quotations
show an enormous advance in shares. For
instance, the Dortmund Union mine shares
have risen 80 per cent ntwithin two years, and
meanwhile some Of the men at Dortmund
have earned beggarly 12s Cd weekly.
Recently the owners have Withdrawn
some allowances hitherto granted to the
men, and have increased the severity of the
fines imposed upon the miners. For in
stance, there is the practice called mullen,
by which nothing is allowed miner for
any carload of coal which lacks full
weight. The owners sell this coal, but the
man working underground, often naked, in
a temperature ol2O degrees Reaumur, which
is common to the deep Westphalia pits,
gets nothing if the car is not quite full.
IN FAVOR OF THE MEN.
Public feeling is becoming more and more
pronounced in favor of the. men. The
paralysis of the iron and steel industries |
consequent upon lack of sufficient supply |
of coal intensi6es the feeling of discontent |
existing outside of the coal district. In the |
event of the failure of a speedy settlement |
of the trouble the Government will convene |
a conference of employers and workmen un-
der neutral president, who shall be en-
powered to arbitrate on the differences.
Criticisms on the alleged violent phrase
of the Emperor to the workmen's delegates
that if they resisted the troops he would |
have all of them shot Qasse er allies neben
den hsufen schiessen) led to semi-oficial
denial that the Emperor made use of a
xrl;ab hodo fair fo haonr,n n |
Of his despotie disregard of the
life of the masses.
The official version of the stenogrspher
present does not contain the words The
delegates say that the Emperor, striking the
pommel of his saddle, warned them that he
could make them feel his power if they re-
sisted the authorities. His subsequent as.
of sympathy softened the severity
Of the warning.
THE SOCIALISTS ACTIVE.
Herren Liebknecht and Bebel invited the
delegates to confer with the Socialist men,
bers of the Reichstag, but they declined,
having noted the Emperor $ remark: Don't
associate your movement with the Socialists.
DEM Fuhl mich list Feeder Social demokrat
yleich bedentend NIT Reichst und vaterlands
eind.".
The building trades strike in Berlin is
Many of the workmen have
yiven their masters until Monday to an
wer their demands. The climax of the
movement will probably be reached in
Tune several of the largest workmeu's
associations having postponed the general
trike until then.
In the Reichstag to-day, when the aged
vorkmen's insurance bill came up for
bird reading, Prince Bismarck made an
Grid speech. He said that he was not sur
,rised that the Socialists, the Freisinnige {
,arty and the Poles opposed the bill, but |
e had not expected that Conservatives
rould assume a hostile attitude toward ;
affecting-the innermost depths of
he whole empire
AN EARNEST APPEAL.
In concluding he said: 81 wish the bill
o be disposed of before the next elections,
or no one knows whether we shall have as
much leisure next year as now. beg Con-
ervatives. Imperialists snd Nationalist to
rec themselves from the Socialistic, Polish,
Tuelph. French and Freissinnige parties ''
After reply from Herr Bamberger the
House adjourned.
Prince Bismarck's appeal is likely to in