Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-13
A RUSE TO SELL COAL.
This Is Why the Nonongahela River
Miners We're Locked Ont.
5000 OF THEM ARE IDLE TODAY.
They Will Strike for Cents a Ton When
the Fall Else Comes.
NEWS OF THE GREAT LABOR WORLD.

Nearly 5000 miners were idle in the Mo.
nongshela Valley yesterday. It was the
opening day of the lockout of the river coal
diggers. With all these men turned loose
at once the greatest quietude reigned and
SO it will until the muddy Monongahela
rises several feet.
The river miners are not striking but are
locked out. The chances are ripe for q
strike, however, later in the game. The
lockout looks more like a ruse to advance
the price of coal than to cut the miners
wages one-half cent The miner is not both
ering himself much about his present condi-
tiou, for he SAYS one day of high water
will see the miners digging coal at the old
rate. In all probability there will be two
months of idleness, and in that time the
operators will have realized nice thing
from their coal in the Southern market.
Charles Morgan, of Elizabeth, member
of the last Scale Committee, was seen yes
Seroay afternoon. He said:
To Raise the Price.
Joseph Walton g. Co, John A. Wood &
Sons, O'Neil & Co., W. w. O'Neil, W. H.
Brown 8 Sons and the Lysle Coal Com
pany have large quantities of coal in the
Cincinnati and Southern markets. Three
weeks ago last Wednesday they ad-
vanced the price of coal one-half cent.
Now they ask us to accept q
half cent reduction. The operators are
telling the Southern buyers that there is a
great strike in the Monongahela Valley. 1t
is so great that no one can tell how long it
will last The result is that the greater
part of the coal has been sold at
this advance. The barges can now
be gotten back to the mines before the fall
rise. The operators will be about two
months ahead of the game. They will put
fall coal is shipped Coal is now selling in
Cincinnati for " cents and it brings So in
Louisville. When the rise comes these
operators will say: Go back to work and
you Will get you 81 cents busheL'
Miners VIII Ask for -Four Cents.
"The real strike will come then. Last
January we considered the propriety of
asking for cents, but for obvious reasons
did not do it. 1t wall come this fall We
will surely demand an additional half cent
and make a hard fight to get it The talk
of the operators that they cannot compete
with the railroad producers is all bosh.
An arbitration committee would knock
their arguments sky-high A few figures
on the Cincinnati wharf for 6A cents The
railroad operators cannot come near the
mark. 1t costs them 25 cents ton to chip
coal to. Pittsburg. This rate is good
only in radius of 40 miles of Pittsburg.
Outside of those limits cents a ton extra
is charged by the railroads The river
operators also make the plea that they
are at a great loss in barges, while
the railroad producer loses nothing, as he
does not own the cars. This is partly true,
but barge will last from eight to ten years
and the owner makes enough out of it in
that time to sustain him in any loss he may
suffer.
The Advantages of Ihe River Operator.
''Then again the river operator has the ad- |
vantage over the railroad niue owner in the |
great amount of coal he can transport by |
water. One towboat can in one trip trans |
port more coal than 10 engines could haul. |
A regular-sized tow consists of from |
"a, 900 to 26, 600 tons of coal.
1.-The operators, whose names gave you,
are the leaders in this lockout They are |
the big mine owners of the valley, but |
there are many smaller concerns and with |
out this small fry the combine could not |
have been perfected. There are many
of the lesser lights who are willing |
to pay the 81 cents, but if they did they |
leaders. One operator told me to-day that
he thought we were entitled 10 81 cents,
but to pay it would mean ruin to him. This
massing of the operators shows us what we
must do"
An ex-offcial of the United Mine Work
ers in the Monongahela Valley had this to
say: "Our fight is to be still one. 1 do
not think a meeting will be held in the
valley, but we will wait on the operators.
Simply a Ruse to Sell Coal
sThis lockout cannot last long. 1t is
simply a ruse to boost the price of coal in
the Southern markets. When the Monon-
gahela rises we will again return to work.
Our fight two years ago was a quiet one
and think this is the way to win. The
argument advanced by the operators
in regard to competition is extremely light
and will not stand debate. Just take the
rates TO Pittsburg. The river operator can
deliver his coal on the Pittsburg wharf at a
cost Of cents a ton. The rail-
road operator gets ton of
his coal into Pittsburg at
cost of 25 cents. Here is just 10 cents of q
gain between Elizabeth and Pittsburg for
the river man. L n. Bunting several DAYS
ago made statement concerning the ad-
vantage the railroad operators have. As
an illustration he cited a contract
a river operator had with the DAYTON
Soldiers Home. l know something about
this contract 1t was made two years ago
and the railroad operators could not touch
it, so river man took it.
Only L Cent a Ton Difference,
''The coal was transported from here to
Cincinnati by water, then reloaded into
cars and hauled II miles BY rail. The no.
tices the operators have stuck up at the
mines say that the reduction is asked
because of the railroad competition and the
in Tennessee and Alabama.
There is nothing in this Tennessee has not
been mining much coal on account of the
trouble with the convict labor Alabama
is not a competitor, as her product is all
used in home consumption.
'If we are mistaken about this lockout
and it really means a reduction, there will
be bitter fight against its acceptance. If
we are brought down to cents the rail-
road miners will have to mine coal for 2H
cents, as their employers canno. compete
with the river men at cents
II. D.O'Niel & Co. is the only firm running
its mines in the whole valley. 1t has some
sort of dispensation by which 1t is allowed
10 operate its mines until tomorrow night
II the 81 cent rate Then the firm will |