The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-06-19
GENERAL NEWS
OF INDUSTRIES

hanna has already been connected with
the southern end of the old Pittston
line. Announcement ia made that the
present Pittston horse car line will be
left undisturbed until after the special
election on July 2 on the question Of
Increasing the borough Indebtedness
for the purpose Of making borough i'm
provements. II the vote is favorable
10 floating the loan, the company will
at once tear out the horse car line, lay
track OF girder rails, and pave be-
tween rails and two feet on each side
with the kind Of pave the council de-
Cides on; II the anti-improvement
crowd carry the day, 7 rails will be
laid, and the celebrated Pittston cob
blestones will remain
Many persons in the anthracite re.
sion are yet unfamiliar with the al
legged causes Of the recent bitumiuous
miners strike A history of tits there.
fore appended: Prior to 1890, there
was IN existence between the coal
miners and operators of the states Of
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois
und West Virginia. wage agreement,
which was called the inter state agree.
Inent, because it provided for the pay.
lnent Of wages proportionate in the
states mentioned, to the local condi-
iions prevailing in them and aimed, as
far rs possible, to give every operator
in these states an equal chance to COM
pete for coal trade. 1t prevented any
particular set Of operators from COB
bling up everything in sight by reason
Of any advantage they might possess
in the matter of freight rates, water
transportation or local advantages in
mining coal. This agreement operated
10 the general advantage OF the min
ing industry. But along before 1890
operators in the western states began
10 break awsy in the hope Of gaining
advantages over competitors. Then u
meeting was held in Pittsburg and an
attempt made by the miners to restore
the agreement which had become
badly shattered. But it was Of no
avail. The operators split o1 the ques.
lion and from that hour tn he seeds of a
national coal strike were sown.
As far back as 1892 Patrick McBryds,
the secretary of the Miners Union,
predicted national strike. There was
II succession Of local strikes, and some
times there were district strikes, but
none of them brought permanent ad-
vantage. Operators bound by no con
tract and ever eager to gain advantage
over each other cut wages as often AS
they found it necessary to reduce the
prices in order to secure some large
contract. And so it went on until the
beginning Of the strike, which was i'm
nediately preceded by season of wage
cuts in the Pittsburg district heavy and
deep. The cuts extended over period
of six months aud acted as an imme-
diate cause Of the strike, as they forced
similar cuts. first in the Massillon dis
trict Of Ohio, then in the Hooking VAL
ley OF the same state, then throughout
the entire state and soon after in Iudi-
ana and Illinois, Besides this, during
the period of low prices the operators
of northern Illinois placed all their men
under so;called ironclad agreement
Both in that state and in Indiana the
operators extensively introduced min.
ing machines, which further decreased
the power Of the diGgers or rather ma-
chine men. 1t is conceded that the
strike was well planned by John Nc
Bride, hut the officials of the United
Mine Workers place the blame of its
partial failure largely on the shoulders
of the strikers who alienated public
sympathy by lswlessness.
Outside of this feature the most
rerious one with which the officials
were confronted all through the strug-
gle was the refusal Of the miners of
West Virginia to join. Early in the
strike an organizer of the United Mine
workers was murdered in that state
while trying to induce the miners to
strike against their will. There are
14,0O0 miners in West Virginia. OF
these, 1000 were at work when the
strike began. The remaining 5000
we're promptly put to work, and the
mines in West Virginia have been run
ming day and night, week days and
Sunday. The operation Of these mines
was the only thing that stood between
complete paralysis Of business in sew.
eral Northern states. Under the terms
of the Columbus compromise the men
gain n small advance; but it is less
Than half what they had expected and
contended for. The strike cost S2O,.
100000, and ended in failure. Its
only redeeming feature, so far as this
region is concerned. is that it has given
anthracite a chance. Much may yet
come Of this involuntary extension in
The use of anthracite small sizes for in
dustrial purposes.
At meeting of those interested In
the proposed Lehigh and Eastern rail-
road at Stroudsburg, yesterday, the
following officers and directors were
elected: President. s. H Nichols. of
Philadelphia; secretary, Liddon Flick,
of Wilkes, Barre; board Of directors, ].
R Perry, George Smith, ]. B. Shiffer
and Liddon Flick, from Wilkes-B Barre.
It was decided to fix the amount of
capital stock at So, 600, 600. The amount
Of capital paid in is $450,000 A GER
tificate of reorganization will soon be
iiled at Harrisburg. The Lehigh and
Eastern railroad, if over built, will be-
gin near Tomhickon and run through
Luzerne, Carbon, Monroe and Pike
counties, terminating at Matamorats.
Some fast time is being made nova
days on the Central Railroad of New
Jersey. One Of the beat of these runs
was made last Friday by Engineer
John Hunt, OF Easton, who held the
throttle on the engine drawing passen-
ger train No. H. from Mauch Chunk
to Allentown. That distance was
made in exactly "a minutes, which
time included two stops The sched-
ule time is 80 minutes, with one stop.
MINOR INDUSTRIAL NoTEs:
On ON average locomotive engineer
travels 70, COO miles in the course OF q
year.
The Lehigh and Wllkes.Barre surveyors
are busily engaged surveying about the
Honey Brook wash banks.
The combined earnings of ten prominent
coal carrying companies show decrease