The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-07-23
THE COAL MINERS.

The New York Evening Post" after
a consideration of all the factors in
volved, comes to the conclusion that the
coal miners have not been receiving suf-
ficient compensation for their labor; that
the investors and operators in coal
mines have not been receiving sufficient
from their investment to justify them in
paying the living wages demanded by
the strikers; that the prices at which
coal has sold during the last year sus-
tain this last statement.
The unhappy situation has been
brought on by the struggle for the bust
ness of several insolvent concerns that
had brought prices below the cost of
production and drove their solvent COM
petitors into the desperate practice that
has resulted so unhappily. This would
go to prove that the contention of the
socialist is sound who holds that I'M
controlled competition is a factor of dis
organization and ruin in business, and
that it ought TO be so regulated as to
prevent it becoming a wrecking agency.
In this case competition has certainly
not been the life, but the death of trade
1t would seem to be not unreasonable
that miners should attempt to bring
about restoration Of conditions that
justify the payment of wage that viii
enable them to live with fair comfort
Is it better that the people pay slightly
more for fuel, and the miners receive a
better wage and the operators fair
profit, than that the two latter should
be ruined while the dealers with i'm
rnense stocks OF fuel on hand amass for
tunes by the sudden rise in the price of
coal, due to the cessation of production?
In this case the consumer is the suf-
ferer also, and he is made to pay dearly
for the cheap advantage he for a time
enjoyed 1t must seem to the fair mind
ed that a higher price to the consumer,
with decent living to the miner and de-
cent profit to the investors. would make
1t better for all concerned.
Butsthis does not touch the question
of the methods employed by the miners
TO attain their ends. That they have
the right to strike, to cease labor, is
conceded; but when they attempt to
prevent others from working, and to
bring production to a standstill. they
proceed unlawfully and unwisely. We
believe a good deal swifter and better
road to the end in view might have
been taken
When the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States decided says the New York
Post" that an agreement among rail-
way managers for mutual protection by
establishing and maintaining reason
able rates" was illegal it raised bar
rier also against agreements among OPP
eratives in coal mines. The principle is
the same, though in the one case it is
freight agreement and in the other case
coal rates are involved. Coal is an ar
ticle of interstate commerce precisely as
are other products concerning which the
railway men Illegally agreed.
If the coal miners say that they are
not seeking to restrain trade, the an
swer is found in the opinion of Judge
Peckham that it makes no difference
what the purpose, there stands the law
forbidding doing that which results as
does this strike. Nor if it is to be con-
ceded that the miners do not seek to
establish unreasonable rates. nor to I'M
duly profit, the law stands in the path
just the same as it did before the rail-
way managers. The cases are not only
not dissimilar; they are parallels.
Any agreement to maintain rates. says
the Act of Congress is Illegal, and be-
yond that Act there is no passage while
it remains on the statute book. And
be it noted, this legislation was pro-
NOTED, urged and applauded by
the very leaders of the men
who are now called out Of the mines.
One thing is certain. that when the
stirkeis settled, as it must be soon, it will
mean an advance in the price of coal
over the previous schedule rates. The