Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-26
THE COKE,STRUGGLE.
How Errors on Both Sides Keep Up
the Present Trouble.
DEPUTIES DEFY THE STRIKERS,
And InjudiciOus Workers Persist in Parad.
ing as M0bs.
FACTS ABOUT THE DISTURBED REGION
IrRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT /

CoNNELLsvILLE, April 25.-In these
progressive days of riot in the coke country
there must be bloodshed before fight with
the officers of the law becomes at all im-
portant During the past few days the
coke workers have thrown themselves into
disrepute, and the women of the region have
unsexed themselves in their acts against the
eviction officers. Long before Slavish
man or woman ls able to talk English they
| have wasted the complete category of swear
words, and these they cast about in the
leading the men in the art.
1t is certainly most unpleasant duty,
this eviction business, and for that reason
1t isa very poor class Of deputies who are
| secured to do the work. Deputies who act
as guard are also sometimes decidedly the
wrong kind of men, but the Sheriff gives as
an excuse that It is impossible to get suit
able men in required numbers. They are
usually company clerks and others paid by
the operators and, of course, work and act
(and often think) entirely in the interest of
those who employ them when not on duty.
This is one of the causes OF trouble. For
instance, at Leisenring No. 2 the other day,
when a crowd of strikers were holding
meeting, it was feared they were going to
make raid. Consequently, a line of dep
uties was drawn up to protect the works.
One of the deputies dared the strikers to
make an attack, calling them towards
and heaping all kinds of abuse upon their
luckless heads, until at last it was found
necessary to deprive him OF the use of his
gun. There are numerous other instances
of where the deputies have been insulting to
the strikers, and in the face of such occur
rences is it any wonder that there are riots?
How the Workers Have Erred.
Now, don't imagine this is justification
OF the strikers actions, for it certainly is
not. By their lawless congregations around
the various works, and their general riotous
conduct. they have lost valuable ground,
which may have most telling effect in the
roundup of the strike. They are the pri-
mary cause of all the trouble, because they
90 about in crowds, and if the deputies in
| suit them and incite them to riot they must
stand the brunt for coming out. Had they
remained at home and kept quiet, this strike
would have been settled long ago. But now
it equals, if not eclipses, all previous
records of long coke strikes, and as yet they
have gained no decided advantage. At
present the laboring men are simply wait
ing for the demand for coke to compel the
operators to resume, and the operators are
waiting for the pangs of hunger to force the
men to return to work. The coke supply
seems to be good, and there are very Iew
hungry uen in the region, so the fight is
still on and will continue unless something
occurs to change the aspect Of affairs.
In the coke region as well as anywhere
else it is the worst element which comes to
the surface, and for that reason some people
believe that the whole class is bad.
There are over 10000 workmen and
their families in the region, and probably
| not over one-ffteenth get out and raise
disturbances on every opportunity. At
the trouble at Morgan, White Mine and
Summit yesterday, not over 200 men, women
and children were engaged; yet there are
over 500 men employed at the various works.
This is the way it runs all the way round;
still, those who stay at home and mind their
own business, as all should, get just as much
blame as their boisterous comrades.
How sIavs Save House Rent
As 1t Is very difficult to see how the people
live in this region, the evictions serve as
sort of revelation. The SIavs are crowded
into houses like sardines, and apparently
DC put III CEOssWibC IL Ia aycEs. LII one
house of eight small rooms there were 20 |
men, and in another of four rooms 15 people |
we're accommodated. From one, evidently |
a boarding house, the deputies took Al jugs, |
to sly nothing of bottles, and all had little !
vhiskey in them.
The Slavish style Of curing pork seems to
belong to progressive age. 1t is hung out |
of the window on the side of the house, and |
there it hangs sometimes for weeks At |
Morewood the side of one house was found |
almost completely plas.ered with meat Its |
odor when taken down is not the most in |
viting, as the deputies found when they |
were making the evictioDs.
Italians are being forwarded into the |
region as fast as they can be secured. They |
are put In the houses vacated BIZ the evictlve |
process. Italians in the coke region don't |
live. they merely bunk, eat and work. |
Those now being shipped here are villain |
Gus looking. What an interesting fight it
would make to turn them and the Slavs
loose in large field Very few strikers
are breaking over now, and the only sources
for recruits seem to be the city's slums,
where Italians are found willing to step
irto the shoes of the workers.
There is one great mistake made in CLASH
flying the people in this region. In all the
travelling over the region have yet to find
q man who says he is Hungarian. They
are all Slayish people, about as near Hun
garian as Mexican Is to an American.
There are perhaps, not over 30 true Hunga-
rians in the district. The few who are here
are said to be of better disposition than
their Slavish neighbors, and seldom get
into trouble. However, Hungary is charged
with having produced the whole lot of Slavs
found here.
Operators Breaking Away.
The operators are having just as much
trouble on account of breaks in heir ranks
as the strikers. W. J. Rainey, with his
four plants-Fort Hill. Grace, PAUL. and
Rainey-is reaping rich harvest from the
|, fight by running full at last years wages
| and commanding good price for the coke.
| There are number of other plants working
| at last years scale, and several are oper-
| ated under the organization.
It is a question who is the most hurt by
| these works running, the operators or the
| strikers 1t has double effect. 1t injures
| the operators, inasmuch as it shows that it
| is possible to make money on last years
| scale, and it Injuries the cokers because it
| prevents the demand for coke forcing the
price so high as to compel II resumption.
The small operators could do a great deal
| toward breaking the strike If they only
would, but breaking strike is an expensive
luxury, and they prefer to wait for the big
men to do it. Very lew of the small opera.
tors are trying to run, except those who pay
| the scale demanded. It is almost, if not
more, expensive to run coke works partially
during a strike than to keep them going in
| full when everything runs smoothly.
IDENTITIES must be kept on guard and there