The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-01-06
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
In the Opinion of Veteran Miner
of Long Experience Nothing Is to
Be Gained for Labor by a Hostile
Attitude Toward Its Employers.
Common Sense on a Great Question.

Common Sense on a Great Question.
The following has been received from
one of the oldest and most respected
miners in this valley. We commend
MS words to thoughtful workingmen:
Editor of The Tribune.
Sir:--Being Il humble citizen of tn,
borough of TaylOrville and having lived
III the Lackawanna valley for nearly
iorty years and having followed the oc-
cupatlun OF "a miner for the most of this
time, l consider it my duty as well as
the duty of all others of the sons of toll
to pay the strictest and closest attention
10 the great agitation going ON today be-
tween capital and labor. In the first
place l believe that capital and labor
should go hand in hand together. for one
without the other is of no earthly value;
but we must admit that it Is the en-
ployer who invests all the capital, runs
all the risks and assumes all the re-
sponsibilities, so that in reality labor is
simply an hand maid to capital. But
with all that labor has its claim on cap
ital. for capital will accomplish very
little without the aid and service of la
Dor. So, therefore, we need better re-
lations between capital and labor, and in
order to reach that agreeable situation
labor organizations should be established,
FOR labor organizations mean discussion
and higher intelligence among the work.
ingmen in which judgment will finally
take the place of passion Workingmen
reading their paper, talking in their
branch meetings and being instructed
from the forum are better than working
men loailng on the street corner gos-
siping and drifting away from pure mo-
tives and good sentiment. Labor has
the same right to combine for protection
that people have to join a church or any
other combination.
a VETERANS ADVICE.
Having had a little experience i'll labor
organizations in the past years and feel
ing a deep interest in the rights and well
lare or my co-WoIkerS that earn their
bread by the sweat Of their brow, there
fore 1 desire to say, let us move Oh
slowly and feel our way before we enter
into u great strife and contest with cap
ltal, Tor We must realize that If we 10
We will be coping with IL formidable foe,
as experience of the Iast has proven
clearly to us on more than one occasion.
l was srieved to the core the other day
by reading in one Of the Scranton papers
that there had been q "score Of strikes in
auSuratCd within the last six months by
the Delaware, Lackawanna and West
ern employees, and today the talk among
the mine workers in it's employ is fun
of strike on an extended scale" l think
this is false statement, and i am posi-
tive that there has not been q word nor
sentence uttered in our district to give
the slightest idea of such intention, at
least for the present. And as l under
stand the situation. there has not been a
strike inaugurated by the Delaware.
Lackawanna and Western employees since
the year 1878. The little trouble or mis-
understanding between the breaker boys,
runners and drivers and the officials did
not assume the appearance Of a strike
for a moment, and l wish to tell you
plainly that they were not called upon
to suspend work by the United Mine
Workers. They simply quit work under
the impulse of the moment and the little
grievance that existed was settled ami
cably and satisfactorily to both parties
In less time than you could say Jack
Robinson" The Delaware, Lackawan-
ma and Western miners throughout the
region have worked better breaker time
during the past six months than in sew
eral years, which means more money
earned, as there has been no reduction
in pay.
LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE.
But in regard to the talk among the
mine workers, let me repeat my state
mcnt: The rank ana iile Of the Della
ware. Lackawanna and Western en-
ployes are in total ignorance OF such AN
intention. Perhaps President Mitchell
and Gompers and other great magnates
are meditating and planning TO take
such unwise, disastrous steps as to in
augurate strike. l say unwise and dis
astrous from past experience, and in Or
der to substantiate my assertion i will
go back and begin with the beginning
oil h. a. nn
1873, when the last strike of any magni-
tude occurred. In the year 1865 the
I.ackawanna valley inauguratcd q strike
and it lasted three months. The parties
that Were involved in that strike were
the Pennsylvania Coal company, the Del
aware, Lackawanna and Western COM
pany and the Delaware and Hudson COM
pany, and after losing and sacrificing the
three long months We humbly knocked
at the door of the three corporations and
they, like the father of the prodigal son
OF old, opened their mires and permitted
us to resume work on exactly the same
terms that we had taken out our tools
three morths previous: hut they did not,
ON our return, kill the fatted calf and
put rings on our fingers, Oh. no; we
had to conduct ourselves with more hu-
miity for our harsh oct and laundering
step.
In my next letter we will come down
TO the seventies and see how we Jared
then. Tayloryille Miner.