Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-01
OPERATORS DENY IT.
They Will Not Believe the Cokemen
Mean to Go on Strike.
POSITIVE PREDICTIONS ARE MADE.
Walton's Miners at West Elizabeth Again
Want More Wages.
LARGEST CAST IRON GAS MAIN is LAID

The coke operators in this city are unani-
nous in the opinion that there will not be
strike among the coalmen in the coke region,
but even if any trouble should happen they
do not think it will amount to much.
Colonel j. M. Schoonmaker not being at
his office, one of his bookkeepers was asked
piled that they had paid their men on Tues
day, and everything seemed to be quiet and
harmonious. Their men work on scale
which they accepted about year ago, and
they do not anticipate any trouble.
A gentleman connected with W. b.
Brown & Co., who arrived in this city from
Everson yesterday morning, said in refer
ence to the situation:
"Of course we are only small people and en-
ploy but 800 men. Our men are all at work
and we do not fear any trouble. So far as
was able to Judge from existing circumstances
at Everson, think that the Knights of Labor
are
RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS TROUBLE.
The fact of the matter is. that the coke
workers in the region are divided among the
Knights of Labor and the Progressive Union.
The latter are in the majority, and when they
presented scale last year the manufacturers
accepted it. The Knights of Labor, however,
presented different scale and it appears to
me, and in fact have learned that much at
Everson. that the. Knights of Labor have
gotten up new scale and they want that ac-
cepted by the operators. However, when
was up there to-day, everything seemed to be
quiet"
Mr.. McTighe, of Mcclure & Co., posi-
lively stated that there was no trouble IN
the region at all, and that all would be as
quiet to-day as any other day.
H. G. Frick, being away from home,
nothing could be learned at his Office.
Mr.. j. w. Moore, of the Moore Coke
Company, in q conversation with reporter,
said:
among the coke men. The men will be too
wise to attempt making any trouble now. The
condition of the coke business does not war
as for their expectation to have the operators
accept the scale they formulated at Scottdale
few days ago. making the basis dollar. is
G@oneerned, COZ such thing is simply absurd.
to such q demand. If trouble should break out
among the men, 1t will have the result of
prompting the operators to form another syn
dicate, and in that case the men would not be
able to gain point no matter what they
would do.
STRIKE ALLEGED TO BE ON.
In spite of the assurances from the opera
tors that there would not be strike among
the coke operators, it was reported from
Scottdale yesterday that the men of Wiley
& Stauffer, at Everson, went out The la
borers at the H. c. Frick Coke Company
also quit work for an advance in wages.
The general committees OF strikers will meet
at New Haven to-day and a mass meeting
Of cokemen will be held to-day at Connells-
vile.
The following telegram from Scottdale
was received last night, clearly indicating
that the men are in earnest about the strike:
This. in all probability, will be the last days
work for the miners and cokers in the Connells-
vile region for some time to come. Tomorrow
morning between Il, 900 and l3.0OO men will lay
down their tools and unite in demand for
better wages. The reports received here from
most general strike that has ever occurred
here. The statements OF some of the operators
that the strike only existed in the minds of
! the reporters VIII receive very decided denial
tomorrow morning. Some of the operators
are having their ovens charged as usual to-day,
under the belief that there will be no strike or
that the men will remain at work long enough
to draw their coke. This. the men say. they
will not do, as all the operators have had suffi-
cient notice, and if their coke Is destroyed 1t
will be their own fault.
A POSITIVE OPINION GIVEN.
In regard to the wage difficulty in this re-
gion the Scottdale Independent, the official
organ Of subdivision No. 4, Knights of
Labor. will say tomorrow:
The die is cast Through their representatives
the majority of the miners and mine laborers in
the Connellsvlle region irrespective of organiza-
ton, have issued an order for the cessation of
work to-day. The two last conventions have diff
fered materially from any that have been held in
this region since the big strike three years ago,
when the men worked together for their common
interests. They have again met on the same
level and mutually agreed 10 make their demand.
not as an organization, but men who believed
they were entitled to the courtesy of conferring
with their employers on the subject Of
advance In wages and the privilege
Of ceasing work when such conference was not
granted. The indifference manifested by the
operators seems to rise from the belief that the
strike has been brought about by the organization
having the majority of members in the region,
and that the difference of opinion which has pre-
vented the men from uniting, as heretofore, still
exists, but the contrary is the fact. the unor-
ganized men are now the most clamorous for
advance, and If they throw down their tools to-
day, as they have pledged themselves TO do, they
will be supported by the organization, both
morally and financially. There Is reason why
the men should lot win If they stand united. The
conditions are favorable 20 such result, and it
remains with them alone to determine.