Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-14
xNaLAxD.s GREAT srR,xr.
Four Hundred Thousand Miners Prepare for
Long Holiday.


The great coal miners strike in England was
inaugurated yesterday in accordance With the
plan Of the Miners Federation, which, in its
manifesto issued few days ago, declared that
the holiday the men proposed to take was for
the purpose Of clearing the markets Of the sur
face coal and for restricting the output in order
to prevent the masters from using the low
prices as an excuse for lowering wages. At 2
o clock Saturday afternoon the men employed
in the mines in Lancashire. Cheshire and York
shire stopped work and the ponies were re-
moved from the pits.
In Durham mining work has also completely
stopped.
One of the results Of the split that has oc.
CURED among the North Wales miners is that
the men working at Flintshire will not 20 on
strike, but will not work more than Ave days q
week.
Many Of the large influential establishments
in Leeds and Manchester and on the Tee-sitle
and Tyne-side and other places in the vicinity
of the collieries damped their fires when the
operatives left their work yesterday afternoon.
This means that work will not be resumed to-
day, the manufacturers refusing to pay the ex-
traordinary prices now demanded for coal.
The Miners Federation will nav the men
strike wages during the period Of idleuess.
The only exception to this, SO far as at present
receive pay. 1t will require very large sum
of money to pay the 4O0,0 600 men who it is said
have quit work, even though they receive
strike wages. To recoup the drain the fedora
ton treasury will be subjected to a levy, which
will be made upon the men as soon as they
return to work.
In the afternoon delegates from all the COL
lieries in the county of Durham met in the
town of Durham and finally decided that thew
would submit to no reduction in their wages.
The Durham and Northumberland miners are
not members of the Miners Federation but
have an organization of their own-the National
Union. This union and the Miners Federation
Of Great Britain and Ireland are entirely dis
tinct There is some considerable divergence
of opinion between them on essential and lead
ing questions For example, the miners OF the
federation are practically unanimous in sup
port of the legislative enactment Of an eight
hour day. The miners of the National Union
prefer to let the labor day settle or ''eyolve"
it's own duration.
The action of the Durham miners promises
TO cause protracted strike In that COUNTY as
the mine owners there declared that if the men
stopped work at their own convenience they
would not be employed again except at re-
duction OF l21 per cent To put the matter
OF the so-called strike briefly the question at
issue between owners and miners is one and
the same, but there are several solutions of it
The question was reduction of wages. In
some cases the owners proposal of reduction
was met by fiat refusal on the part of the
men; in others it was met by a counter propo-
sal to reduce temporarily the number of weekly
working days to five; in others again it was met
by the proposal to stop work altogether for
certain time. The second and third proposals
were based on the principle that reduction Of
output would, by causing a rise in prices, OBJ
viate the necessity of reduction in wages.
The third proposal is that which the fedora
ton has adopted. The membership Of the fed
Grafton is enormous. 1t comprises about
2S0, 900 miners, of whom 26O 900 are bottom
workers" the remaining &c, 900 being employed
on the surface or at the pit bank" as it is
called. This vast number of workers is scat
tered over the coal pits of Yorkshire, Ian
eashre, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Stafford
shire, Somerset Gloucestershire, Cumberland
Leicestershire and North Wales. The fedora
ton delegates who met some time ago at the
Manchester conference represented 175,000
working miners. The conference to be held on
" al do nax% mil fola ,loco ~ To,Ioc