Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-10-20
Coal strike and Its Cause.

A letter from Hugh O'Donnell, the
labor leader, in the Philadelphia Times,
gives history of Pennsylvania coal
strikes, likewise view of the present
situation in the mining region.
Up to 1869 there was no trouble. The
Hazleton mining district was formerly
the most prosperous of any, and the
miners were the most Independent. The
coal was Of exceptionally fine quality,
and the miners were not too many. The
strike of 1869 had curious origin,
worth nothing. Some professional labor
agitators conceived the idea of fixing
sliding scale of wages for miners, to GO
up and down with market price Of coal.
AS beginning the miners dropped off
work six weeks in order to let the sup
ply of coal get low on the market and
bring UP the price proportionately. The
six weeks passed, and the coal in stock
ran low The miners then prepared to
return to work. Then, however, the
coal operators, who up to this time had
had nothing to say, turned the tables
on their employees with the informa-
ton that the operators themselves were
not ready to resume yet. The strike
was continued thus some weeks longer.
From that time Oh troubles between
mine operators and mine workers be-
came frequent. In consequence the OPP
orators adopted the plan of quietly i'm
porting foreigners to displace the Eng
fish speaking miners. This has been done
till the American and British miners
have been almost excluded from the Lee
high region For long time the opera
tors had it all their own way after the
foreigners came. They fixed wages at
their own figure. They made the for.
eigner buy his domestic supplies at the
company store, where Mr.. O'Donnell
says the necessaries of life cost the
miner so per cent more than the same
goods would outside. Thus the money
paid to the miner goes back to the COM
pany in the extortionate price charged
for goods he is forced to buy at the COM
pany store or be discharged from work.
But at last the worm has turned
The company store Mr. O'Donnell
characterizes as the worst outrage per-
petrated on the miner. Another is the Z 5
cents month dues he must pay to the
company doctor The company store is a
better paying investment to operators
than their mines are, the writer de-
clares. These two things, the company
store and the company doctor, are the
worst grievances of the miners. If they
were abolished, the foreigners could
manage to live, even at low wages. I'm
less the abuses named are abolished the
Pennsylvania soldiers will apparently
have a permanent job. At least they
will be needed until the miners and
their families die Of starvation. Such
is the conclusion one draws from Mr.
O'Donnell's letter.
The primary cause of the trouble, how
ever, is perhaps to be found in overpro-
duction Of coal In their desire to cheap
en- wages the companies have continued
to bring foreign miners into the country
in such numbers that now there cannot
be found steady employment for them.
| If all the miners in the Pennsylva-
mia region were to be worked steadily,
they would produce at least three times
| as much coal as the whole country
could consume. The figures given by
the Philadelphia Times show that
| $1,000, 900 tons Of coal are the utmost
quantity that can be consumed in our
country in a year. There are now
miners enough to produce 600, 900, 900
tons in year.
The only permanent remedy will be
to find other occupations for the thou
sands who are Cutting the mining Ia
Dor market. This can be done, and all
interested, labor organizations, coal
companies and everybody else, can CO.
operate to accomplish it,