Birmingham state herald., 1897-07-13
STRONGER ALONG THE LINE Is the Situation of the Striking
 Coal Miners.
 IRON GLAD CONTRACTS
In MonOngaheIa Valley Snapped and General Strike on at BlackpooI.
COMMISSIONERS AND PERPETRATORS
Gathering from Every State Except Ten nessee and Kentucky and an Effort Will Be Made to Settle = Threatened
 Coal Femine in East Ohio.

Pittsburg, July 12.-Beyond streng then ing of the miners lines along the river there was little change in the situation today. The irorclad contracts which were in force at several mines in the Mo- nongahela valley were broken today and the strike was made general a Blackpool. The men in the Sickle Hollow mine of the Washington Coal company also came out making the suspension complete in this district except at the mines of the New York and Cleveland Ccal company, where ], 400 men are working No effort has been made to get these diggers out. and the miners al the other pits who have laid down their tools are grumblng at the sowness Of Dearmitt's men in join ing the moveme mt. Some of the hotheads are advising drastic treasures They are kept in check so far, but there is no tell ing when the fever will break out and a concerted movement on Bear and Deer Greek made.
 Great interest is being taken in the la- Dor question. Labor comm .SslonerS ana arbitrat tors of the several states affected are gathering in this state. Ohio is the only one that has a regular appointed board of arbitration. It exists for just such purposes as this and was eminent ly well prepared for the work. Most of the states have labor commissioners and statisticians who are also well prepared to act as arbitrators from their keeping in touch with the working class gener- ally. The Ohio board is composed of Zelyn w. Owen, chairman, of Columbus, who was formerly chief justice of the su- preme court of Ohio Ex-Attorney Gen eral John Little, of Xenl1, and Joseph Bishop, of Columbus, formerly president of the Amalgamated association The la Dor commissioners of Indiana here are l.. 1T. Mccormick, eX-president of the State Typographical union. and B. F. Schmidt, of Indianapolis. John M. Clark indus trial statistician of PencsyIvania arrived from Harrisburg this morning Officials of West Virginia are expected here to- morrow. The Illinois commissioners of labor--J. D. Keefe, J. B. Gill and R. H. O'Keefe, are now on their way to Pitts burg and wfn meet the other commission CTS in this city on Wednesday, Thus, all the, states with the exception of Ken lucky and Tennessee. where the str ke IS on, will be represented in the confer enceS which are to be held here during the hext few days.
 Invitations have been sent to the coal operators of the Pittsburg district to meet the arbitrators informally and talk over the matter of settling the strike It is expected by the arbitrators that a representative number of local operators will be gotten together within the next tWenty-four hours. However, persons who are well acquainted with the war ring factions that exist among the coal operators here, say they will be hard to get together in this move, although the extreme gravity of the outlook may have the desired effect Some of them say that conciliation will reopen the old ques- tion of President Dearmitt for a price difference to compete with the other fields. Peace emissaries called at Presi- dent DearmdttS office today and it is said he told them it would be a day or two before he could give definite answer as to the course of action he proposed to follow. If the operators can be brought into line on the conference idea there will be no obstacles interposed by the miners. President Ratchford notified the miners publicly few days ago that he would be ready for a. conference at any time. This afternoon he wired the ar- bitrators that the representatives of the miners could meet them tomorrow.
 It is claimed by conservative operators that the marketable supply at present. which is placed at 10000.000 bushels would be only able to meet the demands of the market for about month under ordinary circumstances. With the scarci- ty of coal already prevailing at the lake ports it is claimed the supply will not last over two weeks at the longest. With these indication coal operators are not very anxious to fill orders, but are hold ing out for the advance in prices that is expected to ensue. The only source of supply is the river mines as the railroads are confiscating for their own use all coal shipped along their lines. There has been a marked decrease of coal within the past few days and it is claimed 10 cent bushel rate in boat loads will be reached before long. Dealers concede that a famine is imminent and look for prices to advance beyond that reached during the previous general strike of miners in 1894.