St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-16
IT WAS A STORMY SESSION
OPENING or THE CLEVELAND CON-
FERENCE OF COAL MINERS.
A KICK AGAINST pITTsBURG.
Three Hundred and Forty Miners
and Operators From Ohio,
Indiana, West Virginia, Penn
sylvania and Illinois Will At
tempt to Settle the Great Coal
Strike Which Is Now On.

CLEVELAND, o.. May 15.-The con-
senSus of opinion here is that the result
would be naught. The Illinois oper-
ators and part of the Pittsburg district
are not represented, however. so what
ever terms, il any, are agreed upon
must be ratified by the absentees before
they become effective. Therefore. a
contingent clause will be the only
thing that will prevent the conference
from being all utter failure. The miners
appear to be firmly united for the in
terest of all. Secretary McBryde says
their motto will continue to be:
Zone tor all, and all for one"
If one section goes to work. all will go
to work, and under no other conditions
can the mines be operated. What is the
concern of one is the concern of all.
The men feel that right and justice are
Or their SHE, and that defeat can come
only as the result of treachery 10 them
selves.
The scale committee in its report has
endeavored to adjust differences in
rates for mining in a manner to work
no injustice 10 the mines of one section
as compared with another. The demand
Is for the wages paid
BEFORE THE REDUCTIONS
were made last fall and winter. In a
general way the scale provides for the
following wages: Ohio. 70 to SIS cents:
Pennsylvania, 81 to IS cents; Indiana,
70 to rs cents; Central Pennsylvania. so
cents; IiliCois, so to IS cents: Maryland,
50 cents. and West Virginia about the
same, ii the miners at work in that
state decide to JOIN the movement. OF
course Ohio, Pennsylvania. Indiana aud
Illinois are the important states. Re.
ducti0ns have been made in all but
Illinois. but ii the miners in that state
had desired TO work after May they
would have been compelled to accept d
20 per cent reduction.
When the conference finally assem-
bled late in the afternoon it took but
short time to 'precip!tate fight that was
brewing. An organization was effected
by the election of j. B. Zerbe, all op-
orator of this city. as president, and
Patrick McBryde. of the miners union.
as secretary, with Frank Brooks, an
operator of Columbus, as his assistant.
A committee Oh credentials was ap-
pointed. and 10 them were referred all
the credentials of the miners and op-
orators who sought seats i'll the cor fer
ence. The report of the committee
aroused stormy discussion at once.
They favored The seating nj all the
MINERS AND OPERATORS
from ONO. Indiana and West Virginia,
and all OF those from Pennsylvania who
had expressed Willingness to abide by
the decision OF the conference. The
report, however, was against the seating
of the ten Pittsburg operators who had
declared that they would not abide by
the decision of the majority.
A. II. Dempster led the tight in favor
of giving the kickers seats. He said
the call tor the conference had been
sent to all operators and miners and
call. john McBryde, president, and
Vice President Penna, OF the miners
union, made the principal speeches
against seating these operators.
The Indiana operators were admitted
on the understanding by the decision of
the conference, if a fair rate for mining
was established for Central and South
ern Illinois.
The conference was composed, after
the report OF the committee OH ere
dentials. of 1915 miners and IA opera.
tors; 81 of the operators are from Ohio,
50 from Pennsylvania. Z from Indiana
as committee for all the operators in
that state and, 2 from West Virginia.
After the adoption Of the report The
conference adjourned until tomorrow
morning, 1t being announced that the
operators would hold caucus in the
evening.
Tie report of the committee on Gre
dentials excluded the committee of len
representing the Pitsburg operators,
who decided last Friday not 10 abide by
the result OF the conference. That re.
port was adopted after hot discussion.
Two members of the Plttsburg commit
tee. however, MesSrS. Chapman and
Hartley, had ostensibly Withdrawn from
the committee. ana they re-entered the
conference as individual operators.
The OHIO and Pennsylvania operators,
who favor settlement, met at the
Hollanden tonight tor the purpose of
reaching an agreement as to an united
course Ut action. but were unable to ac-
conplish anything. At 9 o'clock TO-
morrow they will meet again.