Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-07-29
MINERS Strike Is CHARGED
TO IT'S EFFEcTs.
Pernicious Wilson Measure Abolished
Protective Duties ON Coal and the
Wages Of Miners We're Reduced az
aResult-Bryan for Erce Coal.


and active members of the wing Of his
party which demanded the removal of
the entire duty on coal, saying In a
speech in Congress, Jan. 13, 1894:
'.The duty on coal is indefensible.
The duty on coal is pothing but
a subsidy, which the people along the
sea coast are compelled to pay to the
transportation companies.
Take the tariff of from coal, so that the
New England manufacturers can buy
1t for less, and they can manufacture
more cheaply, and then, by cutting
down the tariff on the products of their
factories, we can compel them to sell at
lower price to the people Of the South
and West"
This close relation between the VIII
son tariff law and the present strike Is
the subject of much comment among
tariff students and members of Con-
gress generally.
That the reduction which that 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 gen.
orally recognized by those familiar
with the subject.
President Ratchford, of the United
Mine Workers. Association, in COM
munication to the New York Herald,
dated July 3, says:
"A miners wages in the Western
Pennsylvania field ranges from "a to
AZ cents per ton in thin veined districts
thick veined. In 1893 the mining rate
in thin veined districts was 20 cents
and thick veined Go cents per ton. Dur
ing the same year the rate in Ohio and
Indiana was 20 and Is cents respect
lively. Now it Is 81 cents, with re-
duction proposed in Ohio to 40 cents per
ton. This ratio holds good in a general
way all along the lines; Illinois, a por-
ton of Iowa, Eastern and Central
Pennsylvania and the Vlrginias are all
equally affected"
These figures indicate as.reductiOn
in rates for mining of from 20 to 30
cents per ton since 1893. 1t was in
August, 1893, that the Congress which
framed the Wilson tariff law met and
the work upon the bill which reduced
the coal tariff 80 cnts per ton was be-
gun. 1t was. promised that the bill
would take the entire duty off coal, and
he bill, as framed by the Ways and
Means Committee, and passed by the
House, did remove the entire frtelOf 75
.ents per ton and placed coal upon the
free list. The Senate, however, re-
stored part of the duty on coal, max
ing the rate 40 cents per ton and the
bill, when it became a law, reduced
the tariff rates on btuminOus coal 30
cents per ton, the rate under the Nc
Kinley law having been 75 cents per
ton, and the rate named by 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 n remarkable coincidence
and would probably warrant the as
sumption that the tariff reduction
caused the reduction in wages.
1t is not necessary, however, to mere
ly assume this or to 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 interested
in or acquainted with coal mining and
Of N s,t faxxy
Before the passage of the Wilson tariff
bill visitor to Newport News, the
seaboard terminal of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Railway, might have seen at
any time from four to a dozen coasting
vessels lying at the docks awaiting
the arrival Of coal trains from Virgin
la and West Virginia, loaded with coal
and New England. No sooner had the
Wilson tariff taken effect than all
these vessels disappeared as complete
ly as though they had been engulfed
In midocean.
The reason for this transformation
scene was simply this: 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 per-
mitted Nova Scotia coal to enter the
northeastern Atlantic ports at such low
rates that the West Virginia coal could
not compete with 1t. The Nova Sco-
tia Goals are cheaply mined. and as
many of the mines extend under
water, 1t Is practicable to load the
coal directly on vessels and thus place
1t 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 Goals
took the place in the East Of that from
the West Virginia mines and that the
West Virginia mine-owners and opera
tors were compelled to seek a market
elsewhere. Railroad rates to the
West were reduced and coal which
had formerly gone to New England
went West and came into competition
with the coal of Ohio, Indiana and I'LL
nois 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, fol-
lowed by reductions in the West, I'M
| til miners wages became lower than
thaxy haH xxvar hx.ox, Ivoxr,, ,,rIor tho