The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-07-28
COL. REND BOLTS
His Minority Report Creates a
Disturbance.
Thought the Meeting of Opera
tors at Pittsburg
WAS TO END STRIKE.
AstOniShed to Find That is Not
Its Purpose.
He Leaves the Conference in
High DudgeOn.

Pittsburg, Pa, July 2S.-Eighty-nine
coal companies mines located in the
Pittsburg district were represented at
the coal operators uniformity meeting
here yesterday. The operators who
ship by river and those owning mines
in the Westmoreland field were not
present. The river operators held a
meeting at the coal exchange in the
afternoon and decided to take no part
in the uniformity movement. Very
little was accomplished at the two ses-
sionS. The old uniformity agreement
with the new clauses inserted was re-
ported on by committee and the
meeting today will take up the agree
ment by clauses for discussion.
The only sensational incident of the
sessions occurred when Colonel w. P.
Rend presented a, minority report on
the uniformity agreement, denounc1ng
the procedure of the meeting in severe
terms and boiling the conference.
Colonel Rend took the minority re-
port with him, and Chairman Dempster
decided that as Colonel Rend had left
the meeting and taken the report with
him it was not part of the record of
the session and could not be acted up
on
w p De Armitt said he wanted it
distinctly understood that the call to
adopt uniformity did not have any
thing to do with this strike, as he did
not propose to arbitrate anything while
We're towards.
Dr. Anderson advised that the report
of the committee be taken up ad Seri-
alum. An effort was made then to
do this, but the operators did not seem
to grasp the text of the agreement, so
]. B. Zerb moved that copies of the
agreement be printed and copy be
placed in the hands of each operator in
the morning. This motion was carried
unanimously.
At o'clock the meeting took a re-
cess until o'clock, when the commit
tee reported the old uniformity agree
ment with the new clauses and pream-
BILE prepared by the visiting arbitratorS.
The report was read and Captain Steyt-
tier moved that it be received and the
committee discharged.
Colonel Rend demanded recognition
for the hearing of a minority report.
He prefaced the report with a few re-
marks on what he termed the bunco in
tentiOn of the meeting. Colonel Rend
said he had been misled by General Lit
tie as to the purpose OF the meeting.
He understood that it had been called
with a view of Fastening a settlement
of the strike and was assured of that at
a conference with the general on Mon
day night. When he got to the meet
ing he learned that the strike was not
to be taken into consideration or dis
cussed with the question of uniformity.
The preamble to the resolutions re-
cites the earnest desire Of the coal OPP
orators of western Pennsylvania to de-
wise honorable methods to- bring the
strike to a termination, deplores the
poverty and misery of the vast army
of miners and their families, and claims
that the public has been misled by
false statements as to the causes re-
sponsible for the present and past tur-
MOL. The resolutions follow:
Resolved, That we favor the speedy
adjustment of this strike and all ques-
lions and controversies connected
Herewith by Cancellation employed in
a joint conference of miners and their
employers, and that failing, by an ad-
judicatfon, a tribunal of arbitrators
composed of three United States judges
or three other gentlemen of national
repute and in whom the entire coun-
try reposes confidence.
Resolved, That We favor the principle
and practice of uniformity in it's true
and honest sense, but we are unaltera-
bly, opposed to the false and perverted
sense in which it has been used to cloak
shams and transparent frauds.
Resolved, That we favor true and
honest wages and measures, cash pay
ments and all other just and equitable
methods in the prosecution of the coal
business.
Resolved, That we denounce as a foul
falsehood and a glaring outrage the
charges and insinuatiOns, so often pub
licly made, that general dishonesty has
been practiced in weights and measures
in the mining industry in western Penn
Sylvania.
Resolved, That the effort to fasten on
| the public mind these Slanderous and
atrocious charges is a moral crime, and
| that we denounce the guilty author of
! this accusation as a moral criminal,
violating Gods holy commandment:
Thou shalt not bear false witness
| against thy neighbor."
| Resolved, That we are ready and will
! ing to advance the wages of the miners,
! but find ourselves unable to do this to
| the full extent demanded by them, viz:
| Twenty-Five per cent above the prices
| that were paid prior to the strike and