The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-23
Real Cause of the Strike.

In reply to numerous requests for
brief statement of the exact causes of
the present great strike of bituminous
coal miners, President Ratchford Of the
miners organization offers the follow
ing comparison of wages paid In 1888
with those paid now, and says 1t
alone tells the whole story:
The great mining district of western
Pennsylvania paid for mining in 1898, thin
vein, 70 cents, and thick vein 50 cents a
ton. The rate paid at present is, thin
vein, a to "a cents ton; thick vein, 2S
to 80 cents a ton. During the same year
the prices in Ohio and Indiana were 20
cents and rs cents a ton respec-
lively. At present the price is
81 cents ton, or less, in both
states, with reduction offered, or at least
contemplated to 45 cents ton in conse-
quence of the low prices in western Penn
sylvania. This ratio of fallen wages
holds good all along the line, affecting
every mining state almost equally alike.
In the great Hooking valley district of
Ohio the average wage per miner, in one
of the largest mines, for period of eight
months. from oct /, 1896, to June |, 1897,
was $50 per man, or $3.50 per man per
month, gross earnings. From this amount
the cost of mine supplies is deducted,
.
house rent, coal. etc, and support his
family. At another mine in the same dis
trict the gross earnings of thirty-nine
miners Is shown by the written state
ments of the company to aggregate 1928 9S
for two weeks labor, or an average of
$2H per man per week for the same
period. The deductions for company
store, powder and rent, including some
back rental, aggregate $6l9, 029. The de-
duction for store alone, which bespeaks
the total cost of supporting thirty-nine
families for two weeks, amounts to $179.05,
or AN average of $2.2S per family per
week.
Mr.. Ratchford gives a history of the
various attempts made by the men to
secure from the operators a readjust-
ment of the wage schedules and says
the unpleasant alternative Of a general
strike was not decided upon until afte,
after every other attempt to preserve
the livelihood of the men had failed.
The amount of increase in wages de-
manded is but cents per ton over the
former scale, together with a readjust-
ment of machine mining, which will
place ii upon an equal basis with pick
mining, giving to each its just pro-
portion.
1t is natural that in the face of such
hardshps there should be a disposi-
tion on the part of the strikers to hold
the operators severely responsible.
President Ratchford voices this ter
sity Of feeling when he pronounccs the
strike nothing less than a spontan-
eous uprising of an enslaved people,
who have determined to submit no
longer to the cruel, heartless and in
human conditions imposed upon them
by unscrupulous employers, which
have reduced them and their depen-
dents to actual starvation" But even
he is moved to qualify his words. IN
justice to a large majority of employ
ers it should" he adds, "be said that
they are not responsible for this con-
dition. 1t is due to the actions of
few who have cut prices far below
the demands of the market, thus de-
moralizing trade and cutting wages
Unfortunately, until the point is
reached where men can no longer live
by their thrift and industry"
In this light the strike Of bituminous
miners become virtually a public tes-
timonial to the superior business
Judgment and humanity of the an
thracite operators who, in preference
to permitting the prices of hard coal
to fall "below the demands of the mar
ket," have by concert of action started
prices upward toward a level which
| offers the promise of living wages and
| fair profit. We commend the forego-
ing words of President Ratchford to
| those professed friends of labor
throughout the country who have fall
| en- into the habit of denouncing the
anthracite coal operators as robber
barons and extortionists because they
| endeavor to secure a margin of exis-
tence for men and mine on the coal
which they put before the public.