Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-07-28
'R[ND BOLTS CONFERENCE.
Nothing Accomplished By the Coal
Operators Meeting.

The Big Chicago Operator Presents
Minority Report ard When 1t
Was Not Adopted He Pocketed
It and Left the Hall-Says He
Was Deceived, and Had Been
Led to Believe the Meeting Was
Called to Settle the Strike Instead
of to Secure Uniformity Alone.
General Little and Judge Owens
in Conference With officers or
the Mine Workers Union.
Pittsburg, Pa, July 27.-Eighty-
nine coal companies with mines To-
Gated in the Pittsburg district, were
represented at the coal operators uni
fcrmity meeting here to-day. The
operators who ship by river and those
owning mines in the Westmoreland
field were not present. The river
operators held meeting at the coal
exchange this afternoon and decided TO
take no part in the uniformity move
ment. No attention was paid to the
call by the Westmoreland people. Very
little was accomplished at the two
sessions to-day The old uniformity
agreement with the new clauses in
serted were reported on by commit
tee, and the meeting tomorrow will
take up the agreement by clauses for
discussion. Where changes in the con-
ditions since 1896 warrant different
provisions. committees will be appoint-
ed to draw up clauses that will cover
the points at issue. The only sensa-
tional incident Of to-day's session oc-
Cured when COL W. P. Rend pre-
sented a minority report on the uni
formity agreement denounclng the pro-
cedure of the meeting in severe terms
and boiling the conference.
w. P. Murray called the meeting to
order at 11:30 m. by nominating
Alex. Dempster for chairman. Col. w.
p. Rend named G. A. Schleuderberg,
but he declined. Mr.. Dempster was
chosen to preside.
Gen. John E. Little was chosen vice
president. He made a short address,
saying the board was here as citizens
and had no personal interest in the
coal business. They hope by concil-
iation and mediation to bring about a
settlement between the contending fac
tions. State lines have nothing to do
with the question. You have the pow
er here to settle this controversy. AS
Pittsburg goes, so will go the other
States.
After electing Marshal E. Reno sec
retary Of the meeting, committee
was appointed to take up the proposed
uniformity agreement, revise 1t TO suit
the changed conditions since its first
formulation and report to the confer
ence at three o'clock.
The committee consisted OF w. +,
DeArmitt, Geo. A. Schuederberg, Thos.
Z. Young, w. p. Rend, ID. p. Black,
n. A. Andrews, James Armstrong, F..
NJ. Osborne.
At 1 o'clock the committee asked
for another hour, and the meeting
took a second recess until o'clock,
when the committee reported the old
uniformity agreement with the new
clauses and preamble prepared by the
visiting arbitrators The report was
read, and Captain Steytler moved that
it be received and the committee dis
charged.
Col. Rend demanded recognition for
the hearing of a minority report. He
prefaced the report with few remarks
on what he termed the bunco intention
of the meeting. Col. Rend said he had
been misled by Gen. Little as TO the
purposes of the meeting. He under
stood that it had been called with a
view of fastening 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 in connection with uniformity.
The preamble to the resolutions re-
cites the earnest desire OF the coal
operators Of Western Pennsylvania to
devise 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 crafty and false statements as TO
the causes responsible for the present
and past turmoil.
The resolutions follow:
Resolved, That we favor the speedy
adjustment of this strike and all ques-
tions and controversies connected
Herewith, by conciliation employed in
a Joint conference of miners and their
employers, and that failing Of an adj
Indication, a tribunal of arbitrators,
composed Of three United States
Judges. or three other gentlemen OF
national repute and in whom the en-
tire country can repose confidence
Resolved, That we favor the princi-
pie and practice of uniformity in its
true and honest sense, but we are un-
alterably opposed to it in the false and
perverted sense in which il has been
used to cloak sham schemes and trans
parent frauds.
Resolved. That We favor true and
honest weights and measures, cash
payments, and all other just and equit-
able methods in the prosecution OF the
coal business.
Resolved, That we denounce as foul
falsehood and a glaring outrage, the
charges and insinuations so often pub
licly made, that general dishonesty
has been praeticed in weights and
measures in the mining industry in
Western Pennsylvania
Resolved, That the efforts TO fasten
upon the public mind these slanderpus
and atrocious charges, moral crime,
and that we denounce the guilty author
Of this accusation as moral criminal,
violating Gods holy commandment:
"Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor."
Resolved. That We are ready and
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