New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-09-21
STRIKE CRISIS AT HAND.
READING COMPANY DEALS A
HARD BLOW.
PRACTICAL INCREASE OF TEN PER CENT
IN WAGES ANNOUNCED-STRIK
WORKING DESPERATELY TO
OFFSET THIS ACTION

by the strikers, interest has been transferred TO
the Schuylkiu region. which promises to be the
storm centre of the contendng forces. Il IL
admitted tonight that this territory is the
Of important developments There are over
10000 men in the Philadelphia and Reading
Coal and Iron Company we'll as in indi-
viduaI collieries who want 10 continue az their
employment. Armed men have been sworn in 20
protect them. Labor leaders and strikers from
neighboring counties want them to stop work.
The agitatOrs active. and some big meet
ings have been planned
BIG INCREASE BY READING COMPANY.
On the other hand. the Reading Company Is
Offering increased inducements to the men not
to strike just to please the strikers far up IN
the Lackawanna and Wyoming districts. II the
SchuylkilI miners keep at work their pay Will
be increased 10 per cent what II Is now.
In fact. dispatches from the New-YorI< Offices
of the company announce that this raise VIII
be put into effect tomorrow morning. The
Reading company's miners to-day went nine
hours day instead of seven and a half hours.
This will keep up the output and bring thou
sands of dollars more into the regions and
some of the miners just determined TO
continue at work as others are to compel them
TO stop.
The state Of affairs is critical Such condt-
tion exists nowhere else in the region. II IS evi-
dent that at Mahanoy City both parties are try
swarming with armed deputies. In the collieries
In this neighborhood hundreds Of men have al
ready struck. 1t is believed that the leaders Of
the great strike regard the Mahanoy region as
the key to the situation in the Reading Com
pany's territory Within a distance OF five miles
from Mahanoy City are the largest collieries
owned by the company. They have total pro-
duction of seven hundred cars. nearly half the
/ total output OF the Reading Company in the
! SchuylkiIl regions. All OF this coal IS hoisted
/ over Mahanoy plane. and If President Mitchell
| succeeds in tying up the Mahanoy district a
severe blow will have been dealt to the present
hard coal output of the United States.
GUARDING AGAINST TROUBLE.
The Cameron coriery, near shamokin, oper-
ated by the Mineral Mining Company viii he
abandoned next Monday unless enough men re-
port for work to operate it in the mean while
| Over sixteen hundred men and boys are en-
ployed there United Mine Workers think IT is
a bluff to coerce the miners when they see
| special officers. armed with Winchesters. sta
| toned at every coIliery between ShamOkin and
Mount Carmel guarding the collieries. Vio-
lence is feared fIom the foreign element. who
are known TO have laid in stores of guns and
ammunition in anticipation of the strike At
| Hickory Ridge colliery $50 Hungarians and
Poles. armed with clubs and revoIvers. marched
! in body to the breaker this afternoon and de-
work repairing the breaker. to stop work at
once on peril of their lives. The carpenters
threw down their tools and fed The mules
have been taken out of the Burnside Bear Val
ley and Henry Clay mines and sold. Yesterday
the Reading Company hoisted very nearly one
thousand cars over Mahanoy plane. In addi-
ton to this number 245 cars were brought In
from the western end OF the county. and $50
from other branches This is considered a fair
average days work To-day. however. the
working time at all Of the cornpany's mines was
increased. and the officials expect to show a per-
ceptible increase in the output tomorrow. It
is thought that with the increased time (from
seven and half to nine hours day) It Is pos
sibIe to run the total up to / 900 or 1900 cars
day. This would be equivalent to twenty-sfx
trains of sixty-five cars each. representing a
tonnage of $4,000 tons. more than has been pro-
duced in any one day for months.
At Shenandoah some Of the men, probably
% per cent. failed to report this morning, but
the officials say that is not unusual thing
after a pay day. In Mahanoy City and it's
vicinity all of the colieries are somewhat short
handed. but not sufficiently so to interfere with
the operation of the mines. The labor leaders
have been showing considerable activity all
through the SchuylkiIl districts to-day. and
assert that by Saturday evening enough recruits
will be secured to close down number OF the
mines, if not majority of those now in opera
tiOn.
WANT NO ARMED MEN AROUND.
one of the most significant happenings oe-
CURED at Ashland this morning. About three
hundred mine workers at Locust Gap and Locust
Springs mines live there. They are taken to
and from the mines on what is known as the
miners train. On this train were forty deputies
under Captain Daniel Christian. When the
workuen discovered the presence Of these armed
men they insisted that they leave the train.
fatty refusing to accompany IL unless the re-
quest was needed. The deputies got off. and
the train proceeded. The miners told Captain
Christian that there would be no trouble at the
mines where they were employed unless the
deputies shipped there. and that they did
not want any protection OF that kind The
| presence of armed deputies in and about the
mines of the company. especially where there
have been no acts Of violence, has created
great deal of indignation. and many OF the men
declare that If they are not Withdrawn there
, will be serious trouble They say they don't
want to witness repetition OF the Latimer
horror.
Keep your deputies away" said one OF the
men to Captain Christian. Don't try TO in
timidate the in this way. We don't want
your assistance. If the Reading Coal and Iron
Company wants trouble. keep or sending your
deputies into the regions We are law abiding
and satisfied, but you must not undertake to
threaten anybody with rifles That is not in
keeping with law and order
At the Reading Company's Office to-day u
was said that more than 1000 men and
boys were at work. Up 10 this evening more
than one hundred and forty deputies have been
sworn in here by the Reading company. ana
they are being sent TO all parts of the region
where there is likely TO be trouble II Is stated
glat they TO act as Watchmen at the 0lt-
terent coller1es and 10 rurnisn the miners VINO
desire work protection going To and from their
work.
Z WHAT THE NEW WAGE BASIS MEANS
+ r o IODaS starad N The TrfbuUa