Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-03-18
Great S"ffe, irg VIII Ensue.

AAPIoJ AASA4Uo AdSo OCCu tuIOnA OuU VI
work.
Great Suffering Will Ensue.
LONDON. March 14.-Ihe great coal
strike is begun. The Durham mines
did not resume work and the Golfers of
Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, North
Wales and other districts, are idle. The
miners Of Scotland, South Wales and
Northumberland are working quietly.
In Durham the men to the number of
10000 are on strike against q reduction
of wages, but in all other districts the
men have simply decided to take a
week, fortnight or even three weeks
holiday in order to restrict the output of
coal, thus insuring the prices of coal
being kept up and the rate of wages
maintained, if not advanced.
This movement on the part of the
miners has caused the greatest disturb
ance in the British labor world and in
the manufacturing centers that has
been known since the American civil
war, when 50 many h~undredreds Of
thousands of the cotton operatives Of
Lancashire would have starved but for
q boundless charity.
Fear. IF u Coal Famine.
The most startling rumors are in cir
culation in this city. The fears of q
coal famine are Widespread. The stocks
of coal in the great commercial centers
oro MT 1ovoo oo1 oo1io~1> nrynor houa
for some time past declined to bind
themselves to execute orders. A great
many orders, indeed, have been refused
and the price of coal has risen by leaps
and bounds until it has reached a figure
which it has not known since the men,
orable strike of Northumberland and
Durham miners fifteen years ago. Some
factories will be compelled to cease work
next week for want Of fuel. A number of
others will have to close in the week
following if the miners determine to
carry their experiments into a second
week, and if it is prolonged into a third
week the disturbance of British manu-
features will be general and its effects
so widespread that scarcely al estimate
can be formed to the terrific loss to the
communities which must ensue. The
whole situation is startling in the high
est degree. Many political economists
declare that the movement will result
in driving a large portion of the work
away from England into foreign lands.
In nearly all the large towns the poor
are among the greatest sufferers. Goals
to them have almost doubled in price,
and as the bleak, cold days are still
with them they feel the pinch most
severely.
Trade Greatly Disturbed.
Never before has trade been sc great
ly disturbed in and around Sheffield as
at present. At nearly all the local COL
lieries the men have given in their no.
tices. The worst effects of the tempo
rary cessation from work by the miners
will be experienced by manufacturers
and the men in their employment. With
few exceptions the works in this dis
trict are without q ton of coal in stock.
This means that when the golfers leave
the pits the works will have to close
their gates and await Developments.
South Yorkshire coke makers were ap-
prised by both the Lincolnshire smelters
that notice had been given to the work.
men that in the event of short supplies
of coke and coal by the stoppage the fur
races will be damped down, and if this
stoppge lasts more than a week pig iron
manufactures will come. to a stand still.
The Miners Federation has led in the
strike movement. Four years ago the
Miners federation announced itself to
the world with q membership Of SO, 900.
At the present moment it contains, in
round numbers 1870, 900 paying or "fnan-
cial" members, a they are called.
among the ''bottom workers" alone.
Counting the surface workers there are
about 300, 600 members of all classes.
The joint property of the country asso-
Citations composing the federation is
worth half q million. The federation
claims the exclusive honor of having
forced the miners wages 40 per cent.
above the rate of 1888.