The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-09-06
THE MINERS STRIKE.



The September Forum contains an
article of timely interest on Strikes
and Coal Miners" by Samuel Gompers,
As one of the conspicuous leaders of
labor movements he Is entitled to
thoughtful attention. In this paper
he discusses with considerable clearness
the condition of labor and what organ
ized effort has done In the way of bet
terlng the condition of labor. On this
point he says:
awful as the conditions were at the
time Of the panic Of lS9S,-and stlll are
as result OF that panic,-there can be
no doubt that had the workers not been
SO well organized as they were, there
would have been no limit to the depth
to which wages would have fallen. AS
a result, the consuming power OF the
workers would have been so much fur
Their reduced as TO render the economic
and industrial depression still more
acute, and the Generalization and mis-
cry Of the workers 30 much more mark
ed that, by comparison, their present
conditions would represent n veritable
paradise, In a word, the unions of
labor, during the past four years, have
hlOOu hS EOCh W CleCh u WhOlSsult
reduction In wages. with all its concom-
liant misery. Further, the labor move.
ments has served to shorten the dura-
ton OF panlcs themselves as well as 10
enable the workers TO maintain the con-
seriousness Of power and the hope that
full Justice will be secured to them in
the no distant future. Finally, tina
movement has been the one great pre-
ventive OF much more serious conflicts,
II not of revolution"
Mr.. Gompers then continues to COM
pare the present strike with the panic
OF 1893, In these two labor uprislngs
he finds food for thought In the causes
therefor. On this line he says:
THE miners strike affords study
for us all. In the coal industry, as In
most others. machinery Is introduced
faster than new employments are
founded Before the panic of 1898, the
miners were comparatively poorly Or
ganIzed: reduction after reduction was
the order OF the day; machine mining
had been freely introduced, without the
slightest attention being paid to the new
conditions under which the miners were
required to work. OF course, no OBJ
server-certalnly no intelligent union
member-entertains the thought OF op.
posing the introduction and full devel-
opment OF machinery: but union labor
insists that II, through the genius OF
man, the production OF the necessaries
and even the luxuries of life be made
easier, the producers OF these-the
workers-lf they do not become the ben.
efclarles, shall certainly not be made
to suffer thereby. Union labor insists
further that, IL new machinery be intro
duced, the worker shall enjoy at least
part of the fruits II also insists that
the burdens of the worker be lightened
by reduction OF his daily hours of
labor, and that he receive as u reward
for his labor a living wage,--a wagd
which, in the dawn of a higher man
hood and nobler civilization, will
afford him an opportunity 10 keep pace
with the ever-lncreaslng responsibilities
devolving upon him as a husband, a
father, man, and q citizen.
AS above stated, the condition of the
miners organization In 1893 wasN1uch
that the men were unable to insist upon
fair consideration of their interests.
The old abuses Of the Company
Stores" whore the workmen were COM
PEELED to deal. were introduced and exh
tended; thus compelling them to pay.
III most lnhtunCtbI an GNCeSB Ol twenty
five 10 fifty per cent. for every necessary
OF life. The novels in which they dwelt,
the well from which they drank, the
church at whose altar they knelt, were
all owned or controlled by the coma
panies; the workers were truly thel1
bondmen and their slaves.
There Ia limit OF poverty and mis-
cry among the workers in civilized So
ciety; and, rather than sink below IT.
they prefer to incur the dangers OF open
revolt. Though they deplore the dis
turbance II occasions, II Is the courage.
hardhood and temporary self-sacrlnce
which this course involves that often
prevent relapse OF society into bar
barlsm, and the people from being
thrust into actual slavery. II was this
state OF feeling that provoked the min
nrR, hLrlkn Of this YnArn