Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-12
RIVER MINERS QUIT.
Eight Thousand Coal Diggers Refuse
to Accept a Reduction.
TO BE A BATTLE OF ENDURANCE,
Homestead Citizens Pass Comparatively
Quiet Sunday.
WORK BEING DONE AT THE UNION MILLS

The Monongahela river will have mucl
to do with the strike of the river miners
This morning 5000 picks are idle, and tn,
great battle between the operators anC
miners over the half cent reduction is com
menced. This will not be fight like or
ganized labor has made at Homestead anG
at Buffalo this year, at least not until the
muddy waters of the Monongahela are
| flowing higher.
Yesterday DISPATCH reporter visited
Elizabeth, the great coal center of the rive,
district West Elizabeth lies across the
river from it, and together they constitute
the principal point in the river. Here, II
all reports turn out true, bitter fight is to
be waged. 1t will not come TOMORROW.
for the next two weeks or even ls1na.r Tha
river is the key to the sitps.,o- W., .ho
rise comes, and tbat win not [ ha h.fors ~ na1t Nv
the ' nn,,. Wv ~ will see all the coal out of
,.Ia.O po There is not much coal on hand,
49,, ,, 1t be in the lower markets At this
.iue of year there never is, and the month
of September is usually the miners month
for vacation. Even if they wers to accept
the reduction the miners could not get work
at present
From Miners Point of View.
The situation is best told by an Elizabeth
cit is time that we, of the river dis
trict, are going on strike. In the morn
ing not pick will be lifted or a block of
coal mined The fight is to be bitter one,
and I think the miners are going to be vic
torioua Financially, we are in compare
lively good shape. For the past few years
we have made fair living. Some have
laid little money aside. At 81 cents a
bushel the average miner makes So per day,
but not daily.
''The miner has things to contend with
that those outside of the business know
nothing of At cents bushel, we could
not make decent living. The cut is made,
the operators say, so as to make equal CON-
petition with the railroad operators. This
is untrue. We all know that the river opera
tor can at present get his coal into the South
ern markets at lower rates than the pro
ducers in the railroad districts. Coal is a
good price now, and think the reduction
was demanded at this time just to keep the
market high You will not know that there
is strike in the district until the fall rise
comes.
When the Battle VIII Begin.
''Then the battle commences. The oper-
ators will try to mine coal and there will
be trouble, but I do not think serious
enough to bring the militia in. We will
stand firm for our rights. There are over
80 mines in the district, and aside from the
miners there are about % men at each mine
who will be affected. Of the miners one
half of them are organized 1t is not the
kind of an organization it ought to be. The
river miners never were very much on or
ganization. In times of peace they drop
out of the union, but when trouble comes
they flock back. This they are doing now
Just what plans have been made 1 cannot
say. The miners have not had a meeting
yet, but think convention will be called
this week. The men will not accept the re-
duction, and don't think the strike will
last over six weeks"
Captain O'Neill, who lives at Elizabeth,
and is large operator, was asked about the
coming trouble He refused to talk more
than to say that the operators would not
bring men in to take the places of the pres
ent miners The fight would be one of en-
durance, he said He wants the old men
to do the mining, but they must do it at
cents bushel.