Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-22
COAL RAILROADS DENOUNCED.
President Mitchell Calls Them Real
Enemies of Miners.

| COAL RAILROADS DENOUNCED.
President Mitchell Calls Them Real
Enemies of Miners.
President Mitchell last night issued the
! following open letter to the public:
| HAZLETON, Pa, September 81.
| Fully conscious of the vast public inter
ests involved by the great contest now be-
| ing waged between organized capital and
underpaid labor. and as much has been said
| and written upon the subject of arbitration
| In the present anthracite coal strike. as
president Of the United Mine Workers of
America I am impelled to define my own
attitude and the attitude of my official col
| leagues and the striking mine workers to-
ward the coal operators in a way SO clear
and definite as to leave no further room for
| misunderstanding
| The striking mine workers recognize as
| their real opponents In this struggle for a
slight amelioration of the hard grinding
conditions Of the average miners life nine
| railroads. which. with their presidents are
| the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Alex
ander ]. Cassatt, president; Lehigh Valley
| railroad system Alfred Walter, president
Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company,
| r. M. ELEPHANT, president; Delaware. Lack
| awanna and Western Railroad Company,
w. H. Truesdale. president: Central Rail-
well. president: Philadelphia and Reading
Railway Company, Joseph H. Harris, pres
| ident; Erie railroad and New York. Susque-
hanna and Western railroad. E. B. Thomas.
Schuylkill Company. Irving A Stearns,
| president and New York, Ontario and
Western railway. Thomas B. Fowler, pres
| ident.
These nine railroad corporations besides
| producing approximately u per cent Of the
| hard coal. are the sole carriers to tidewater
| of all coal mined In the anthracite field of
Pennsylvania, and for this service of car
| rio oh of fro,
| ton, according to the size Of the COAL Is
| made. Incredible as it may appear, they
| charge three times as much to carry ton
| Of anthracite coal one hundred miles as is
| charged to carry ton Of bituminous coal
| the same distance. SoeXorbitant are the rates
| that the legitimate profits which should be
credited to the mining departments of these
| railroads are absorbed by freight rates. and
! as a consequence their coal properties are
made to show very small profit on their
| capitalization.
Railroad Presidents Blamed.
| II this Is the state Of affairs with the
railroad mining departments. what Is the
condition of the Independent operator? Is
| it not matter of reason that he can do
nothing which his railroad master will not
commend? Is 1t not a matter Of public no.
| tcriety that he does do nothing which the
railroads do not sanction? Therefore
whether or not individual operators In
the railroad monopoies their great enemies;
whether or not the individual operators feel
themselves free to make common cause
against these railroad systems. l, speaking
for the one hundred and thirty thousand
mine workers this day on strike recognize
these railroads as real enemies, and
name their presidents as the men response
BILE for refusal to arbltrate or even confer
upon the differences which have grown
up, not between them and the or
ganization 1 represent, but between
them and their own employees. who.
through delegates selected by themselves,
met in convention in the city Of Hazleton on
August Is and framed list Of grievances
! which were mailed to the general superin-
tendents Of the mining departments of
these railroads. accompanied by an invita-
ticn to meet in joint convention on August
q for the purpose of discussing and IL pos
sible agreeing upon such changes In the
scale Of mining and conditions of employ
of the coal industry. But to our chagrin
and disappointment the cordial invitation
extended was not even acknowledged by
| those in charge Of the coal departments.
No Arbitration With Individuals.
These grievances. which the miners re-
cited in their circular, formed the ground
for the present strike, and because the rail-
roads are the real masters. against whom
we are making this peaceful, passive strug-
gle, we can only regard such Independent
operators as G. B. Markle & Co. in the
fering under excessive freight rates as we
suffer from low wages and inhuman condi-
lions of employment. and we should re-
gard arbitration with any or all Of such
individual operators as absolutely not cal
culated to advance the cause OF the great
body of anthracite mine workers. but. on
the contrary. to bring their certain defeat,
for even were the board of arbitration in
say, the Markle case to award all that the
men desired. that award could be lived up
to by Markle only SO long as the strike con-
tinued elsewhere. Every pound of coal that
Markle would be permitted to mine and
ship would invariably be appropriated by
the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, thus
placing in their own hands the weapon
which would defeat the very object for
which their own employees are on strike,
and because Of the mine workers OF the an
thracite field having their wages based upon
sliding scale. the earnings OF the Markle
men would necessarily be reduced were the
strike to prove a failure at other points in
the anthracite region.
Wages fixed on a sliding scale basis would
only remain high while there was a scarcity
Of coal in the New York and eastern sea-
board markets, and would Immediately fall
when more coal was being transported to
these markets than could be consumed 1t
is an absurdity. from a business point of
view. to even assume that MarkIe or any
other individual operator could continue to
pay q higher rate Of wages than his COM
petitors. the railroad companies. for any
considerable length Of time. and, in fact 1t
that the individual operators, including
Markle, impose conditions Of employment
upon their men which in some Instances
are more Objectionable than those imposed
even by the large corporations. For these
reasons held that it would be fatal mis-
take for us to consent to any partial set
Element OF this strike. or to agree to other
than a general resumption Of work.
This IL a fight. OF all for each and each
for all, and to be successful there must
be no break In our line of action. 1t ought
to go without saying at this late date that
am q stanch advocate OF the principle Of
arbitration. and did not personally favor
these principles the laws of the organiza-
ton Of which I am president make arbi-
tration one of its cardinal tenets I will
go further and say that arbitration in a
civilized land would be unnecessary II
miners and mine owners were to adopt the
same system Of adjusting wage disputes
as IL In force In the bituminous coal dis
tffcts Of Pennsylvania, and also In all other
coal producing states In America, where
nine operators and mine workers meet
annually in joint convention and reach an
amicable settlement on all questions gov
erning the wages and conditions OF employ
ment. In indianapolis last January $50
operators and $50 miners delegatea repre-
sentfng an annual output OF seventy mil
Hon tons OF bituminous cosi IN, WESTERN