The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-07-31
THE GREAT COAL STRIKE
II Is Directly Attributable to the
Wilson Law.
president Ratchford's Statement =
Mr. bryan Favorn Free Coal, and
Thus n Further Reduce
ton I'm Wages.
Especial Washington Correspondence

low tariff law are the subject of con-
adorable comment among tariff stu
deuts and members of congress gem
orally.
That the reduction which the law
made in the tariff on coal caused great
reductions in the wages of miners is
easily shown, and that the drop in
wages was practically coincident with
the reduction in duties upon coal IS
enerally recognized by those familiar
with the subject.
President Ratchford, of the United
States Mine Workers association, in a
communication to the New York Her.
aid. dated July 3, says:
a miners wages in the western
Pennsylvania field range from 81 to AZ
cents per ton in thin veined districts
and from 80 to 2S cents per ton in the
thick veined. In 1893 the mining rate
IN thin veined districts was 10 cents
and thick veined 65 cents per ton. Dur
.ng the same year the rate in Ohio and
Indiana was 20 and rs cents respective
". Now it is 81 cents, with a reduc-
ton proposed in Ohio to As cents per
ton. This ratio holds good in general
way all along the lines; Illinois, por-
ton of Iowa, eastern and central Penn
sylvania and the Virginias are all equal
" affected"
These figures indicate reduction in
rates for mining of from 20 to 80 cents
per ton since 1893. Ii was in August,
1898, that the congress which framed
the Wilson tariff law met and the work
( upon the bill which reduced the coal
tariff IS cents per ton was begun. 1t
was promised that that bill would take
the entire duty off coal, and the bill
as framed by the ways and means COM
mittee and passed by the house did re-
move the entire rate of IS cents per
ton and placed coal upon the free list.
The senate, however, restored n part
of the duty on coal, making the rate
40 cents per ton, and the bill when it
became a law reduced the tariff rates
on bituminous coal IS cents per ton, the
rate under the Mckinley law having
been IS cents per ton, and the rate
named 10y the Wilson law being 40 cents
per ton.
The fact that the entire reduction of
wages which miners are complaining of
has occurred since the beginning of
work upon the Wilson tariff law and
that the reduction is nearly the same
as the reduction made in the tariff by
that act is of itself a remarkable CO.
incidence and would probably warrant
the assumption that the tariff reduction
81 -.
1t is not necessary, however, to mere
~ assume this or 10 depend upon mere
theory TO indicate that the reduction in
tariff caused reduction in rates for
mining 1t is. susceptible of proof
from facts known to every man inter-
estcd in or acquainted with coal min
Ing and coal operations of the past few
years. Before the passage of the Will
son tariff bill visitor to Newport
News, the seaboard terminal of the
Chesapeake & Ohio railway might have
seen at any time from four to dozen
coasting vessels lying at the docks
awaiting the arrival of coal trains
from Virginia and West Virginia.
loaded with coal destined to be shipped
TO New York and New England. No
sooner had the Wilson tariff taken
effect than all these vessels disap-
pearcd as completely as though they
had been engulfed in mid-ocean.
The reason for this Transformation
scene was simply tiis; the rate of duty
on coal under the Mckinley law was
such as TO exclude foreign coal from
New England or eastern ports. but the
reduction of the rates to 40 cents per
ton by the Wilson law permitted Nova
Scotia coal to enter the northeastern
Atlantic ports ut such low rates that
the West Virginia coal could not COM
pete with it. The Nova Scotia Goals
are cheap,y mined. and as many Of the
mines extend under water il is prac-
ticable to load the coal directly on
vessels and thus place it in any of the
eastern United States ports at very low
prices.
, The result of this reduction in the
tariff was that the Nova Scotia coal
took the place in the east of that from
the West Virginia mines and that the
West Virginia mine-owners and oper-
utors were compelled to seek market
elsewhere. Railroad rates to the west
were reduced and conl which had
formerly gone to Kew England, went
west and came into competition with
the coal OF Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
The price of coal in the western markets
tumbled; then followed rate war
between railroads and between mines
and mine-owners, reduction in wages
for mining at the east, followed by re-
auctions in the west, until miners
wages became lower than they had
ever been known under the protective
policy of the republicans.
Other causes, also resulting from
the Wilson law. have operated with
equal certainty in keeping down the
prices which 1t was possible to pay for
mining. The activity and prosperity of
the miner primarily depends upon the
activity and prosperity OF the manu-
facturer. since machinery is moved by
steam in the production of which coal
must be consumed. Whatever in
creases the number OF mills