The evening times., 1900-09-29
FoOIinE the Miners.

FoOIinE the Miners.
The panic which the great anthracite
strike has caused among the Republican
leaders is again reflected in today's news
regarding the desperate efforts Hanna,
Morgan, Stillman. Bliss. the Rockefellers,
and other trust magnates are making to
bring the struggle to a close. What is re-
ported concerning the results of their con-
ferences with the various branches of the
Coal Trust goes to show that the latter IS
thoroughly frightened and coerced and is
willing to make substantial concessions.
But there is one serious element of weak
ness in the movement to bring about set
tlement. 1t is this: The Coal Trust. while
understood 10 be ready to eoncede most of
the miners demands, shows a strong deter
mination to do so only in a way which viii
give it the whip hand of the men. and
place it in a position to put the screws on
again after the Presidential election Thus.
it is announced by magnates who have ta-
ken part in the trust meetings at ]. T.
AIorgan's office that the intention is TO
make offers to the miners employed in each
mine separately, quietly induce them to
return to work, and resume operations
without noise or talk. In this way the
Coai Trust expects. as one of its officers
has stated, to get one mine after another
at work, until within a week there will
not be a union man. except President
Mitchell. of the United Mine Workers. in
the anthracite region" The same official
declared that in no circumstances would
the trust recognize the existence of the
miners union
The lion in the path of the trust. in at
tempting TO carry out this programme. is
the strong probability that the miners
Will refuse TO accept terms unless they
are offered to the strikers OF the whole
field. en- bloc They are practically GER
tain to insist that the trust shall submit
its offers to a convention representing
the men of every mine producing al,thra-
cite coal. and that, if there is to be
settlement, it must be one between the
Coal Trust at large and the whole body
OF miners. The latter will not insist upon
formal recognition of and negotiation
with the union as such: but The Plan
which they have in mind. and which there
seems to be reason to expect they will
adhere to, would amount at least 20 rec
ognition of the anthracite miners as an
organized labor body
This plan. it is unnecessary 10 say. the
Coal Trust viii resist with all it's might;
but it might be driven under political
pressure TO accept it in the end. If so,
it would be submitted TO with rage and
gnashing of teeth; because it would
amount TO an acknowledgment Of total de-
feat at the hands of the strikers, and.
what is worse, would compel the Coal
Trust to bind itself TO terms. conditions.
and time, which might render impossible
its settled purpose to wiring the Leck of
labor again as soon as the election IS
over.
Insistence upon this policy on the part
of the Coal Trust, and its public disclosure
through conference Ieakages in New York.
have spread a fresh alarm throughout the
Hanna-McKinley camp. The orders of J.
p Morgan TO his trust lieutenauts in the
field TO deal only with the strikers at each
mine separately, and on no account to DO
anything which might look like recogni-
tiOn of organized labor. transpired through
the indiscretion of someone in the secret.
II is said that on reading a statement in
the press that such orders had been issued.
Mr.. Hanna Immediately went to Morgan
and accused him of trying to be the
Burchard of this campaign. The Republi-
can chairman declared with great heat
that the divulgenCe of the orders in ques-
tion would array the solid body of organ
lied labor throughout the country against
the trust ticket, and had already made IN
tpIh thousands nf for Ic~,-a 70
yenson.
From the foregoing it will readily be
seen, that the lot of the trust philanthropy
lists, who are attempting TO pose as hene-
factors to the downtrodden Pennsylvania
anthracite miners, is not a happy one
Their cynical attitude toward labor, while
protesting a desire to benefit it-untu af-
ter election-has not been lost upon the
intelligent working classes of the United
States. What is still more important the
ease with which the anthracite strike is
being won against one of the most power
ful, grasping, and grinding trusts il ex-
istence, beyond any question, will encour-
age the miners of Ohio and Indiana. if
not OF West Virginia and Illinois, to de-
mand fair wages and the redress of griev-
ances which are not confined to the Penn
syIVania field by any means.
The miners of the Oak Hill group of
mines in Ohio are on the verge of a strike.
Unless their demands are conceded today,
they will go cut, and their action will most
likely lead to a more or less general strike
movement in the Ohio field. Mr.. Hanna,
it is understood, will be on the ground in
a day or two and endeavor to settle the
trouble before it can spread dangerously;
but he is likely to find his hands full. He
may possibly avert labor war in the
Buckeye State for the moment; but. since
the United Mine Workers see very plainly
that the political interests of the trusts
render them afraid to refuse some tenn
porary measure of justice to labor at the
present time, it is fair to presume that
coal miners generally will take advan-
tage of the opportunity, and demand 1t
all along the line. with continental
coal strike as the alternative It is their
chance, and they would be less than bu-
man not to seize it,