Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-07
BACKED BY GAS MEN.
Henry FloerSheim Instructed to Pay
the Miners in Advance.
AN ALLEGED COMBINE BROKEN UP.
J. Morton Hall Tells Why No Coal Can Be
Shipped to Cuba.
MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIAL ITEMS

A sensational feature developed in the
miners strike yesterday, which involves
the contract of the Wheeling City Gas
Board. As previously stated in THE DIS
PATCH, Henry Floersheim, of Findley-
vile, granted the advance to his men. This
put the operators on the run after him. He
was taken into meeting of operators the
latter part of the week, where an agree
ment was made with him to the effect that
if he withdrew his consent to pay the Is
cents additional for mining, the remain
ing operators who were working under the
74-cent arrangement would see that he did
not ''get stuck" on his big Wheeling con-
tract.
Mr. Floersheim agreed to this at first and
notified his men that on Monday of this
week they might expect to go back at 70
cents. In the meantime the number of
mines that were in operation grew woefully
small in the eyes of Mr. Floersheim and he
grew fearful that the other operators could
not keep their pledge with him. He had
about made up his mind to continue paying
90 cents and run the chance of losing little
money on the Wheeling contract when he
received letter from the Secretary of the
Wheeling City Gas Board, which read:
WILLING TO PAY THE ADVANCE.
eve want your coal and will have no
other If you are compelled to pay the ad-
vance, pay it by all means and we will re-
imburse you"
This settled it so far as the agreement be-
tween Mr.. Floersheim and the other local
i
been in continuous operation ever since the
strike commenced.
Mr.. Floersheim is in good spirits and does
not seem to care much how long the strike
continues because he says he is repaying
some of the operators who endeavored to
take the Wheeling contract away from him
this year. This, he says, was done in the
following manner: When the Gas Board of
Wheeling awarded the contract there was
combination formed among the operators to
have the price on this as well as on similar
contracts fixed at abou: the same as last
year. or perhaps shade higher.
Mr.. Floersheim refused to go into the
compact, and succeeded in carrying off the
prize at his bid of 81 "a, as against 81 45
per ton last wear. There was naturally
good deal of disgust, he says, among those
who were trying to manipulate the market
so as to take the large contract from him.
But he proposes to run his mines and pay
the advances, because, he saws, thev can
paw 81 cents without losing very much
money, and future contracts can be made
accordingly.
j. Morton Hall was asked about the al
legged combination of operators, and he de-
nisd that any compact had ever been en-
tered into. He said: "That Floersheim
ma tier is entirely foreign to the pres
ent case. [ take notice that Mr.. !
Flos-sheim has not told how he |
got the Wheeling contract: and if the Gas |
Boar of that city is to pay the advance for |
him I cannot see how they are ahead on |
having lower contract than last |
year 1t has only been made about three |
weeks Besides, Mr.. Floersheim has done |
the sal ue kind of business himself. There |
is no change in the situation, and the oper-
ators ave still willing to stand by the agree
ment.
NO tSTRIKE FOR EIGHT HOURS.
Presid ent Costello returned Yesterday |
from a three days session of the Executive |
Board Of the United Mine Workers at Co |
lumbus. As predicted in yesterdays DIS
PATCH, There Will be no general strike for |
eight hours at present, although it was the |
intention of the board to order the men out !
for eight hours when the meeting was called |
Al Columbus The president of each dis
trict was called to Columbus for the express
purpose of learning the exact condition of !
the organization generally. At the last |
it was decided that more could be
gained by entralizing the forces upon the
local distric. But Mr.. Costello let this
very significant remark drop: ''The fact
that the eight-hour question was laid on the
table does not indicate that a move for
higher WAGES will not he made -
This bears ont the prediction originally
made in these columns that an advance
would be asked in Ohio, Indiana and Illi-
nois, but the strike here will be looked
after first
In the meantime an official circular will
be issued TO the miners of all of these dis
ricts, outlining tine course to be pursued,
md giving some very explicit instructions
Is to how they shall be expected to prepare
'or the next move. Il is not intended that
hese instructions shall be made public.
Mr.. McQuaide made his usual tour
through the district yesterday afternoon
md reported at headquarters last night that
is quiet, with no breaks so far
among the miners. The men at Scott's No.
|. where the trouble was expected yester-
lay morning, remained away all day, and
telegram from West Newton last night
stated:
Port ROYAL, Banning. Jacobs Creek and
" Whitsell mines on the Pittsburg and Nc
aeesport Railroad are still at work but as
hey are out of the Pittsburg district no at
en- tion is being paid to them. The total
capacity Of these mines is 20 cars per day.