The Portland daily press., 1900-10-03
CAUSES OF THE STRIKE.

Mr.. Henry Loolnis Nelson, who has
been in the anthracite region examining
into the strike, gives a very different
account of its origin and its causes from
what has been appearing in the so called
yellow journals Mr.. Nelson is a COM
petent observer, and an honest one too.
While not denying that the miners have
g grievances, and that they make COM
plants, the principal one being that
they are charged too much for power, he
alleges that these grievances and these
complaints had really little or nothing to
do with the strike. That he attributes
solely to the maohinations of President
Mitchell and the United Mine Workers.
In the first place Mr.. Nelson shows that
the charge that the operators refused
to treat with the miners, except as indi-
viduaIs. is misleading. They have been
willing to meet their employees slngly or
in a body. or any association fairly rep
resentati7e of them. They have refused
to recognize the United Mine Workers
because it was not an association Of that
character. The United Mine Workers
are an association or union Of bltum1-
nous coal miners. President Mitchell,
the head of it, was bituminous miner,
and so were all the mem bers OF it's gov
erning board with one exception. One
member had had some experience in an
thracite coal mining, but not much, and
he had little standing among the anthra-
cite miners. This union has been domi-
mating the bituminous mines for some
time. 1t rules both the operators and the
miners. Nobody not N ember OF it can
work in bituminous nina, for if the
operators hire such an one the members
of the union go on a strike Immediately
and compel the shutting down Of tho
mine. while it dictates to the operat )rs.it
tyrannizes over its members. If anyone
of them objects to an assessment levied
by the local president he is threatened
with expulsion, and if he persists the
threat is carried out with the result that
the offender is deprived of work and be-
comes an outcast in that region,
Mr.. Nelson asserts that all the trouble
in the anthracite region has sprung from
an ambition on the part of President
Mitchell and the other chiefs Of the Unit
ed Mine Workers to dominate the anthra-
cite region as completely as they have
dominated the bituminous Eregion. They
entered the anthracite field some months
ago. and began the agitation. At first
they met nothing but rebuffs, but they
gradually got hold of the most ignor-
ant part of ,miners-the Poles and
Hungarians-and got them into the
order. They had to put out some causes
OF complaint, and the character of them
showed that they were utterly unfamiliar
with the conditions in the anthracite
region. For instance, they complained
OF the company stora and demanded Its
abolishmen5. AS matter OF fact there
are no company stores owned, managed
or controlled by the great corporations.
The law forbids it. Some indlvid uals
own company stores, but Mr.. Nelson
thinks these are a BILE ssing to the miners
The company doctor was another Of theil
grievances. This so-caIIed company doc
tor is maintained in remote regions by
contributions from the miners, and they
could hardly get along without him The
complaint which most completely be-
trayed their ignoran CO OF the conditions
In the anthracite region were those relat-
ing to the scale of pay. The union de-
manded one scale of pay in all the mines
This, while all right in the bituminOus
region, would result in gross injustice
and inequality In the anthracite region
because there Is great difference in the
character of the veins, some of them being
easily worked, and some of them with
great difficulty. This difference has
been evened up by a different scale OF
pay, so that the miners at work on the
difficult veins earn as much as those
who were employed on the easy ones.
A single scale would give the latter large
wages and cut down the formers t
a very low figure.
From personal conversation with the
men Mr.. Nelson ascertained that the
most Intelligent ones were at heart op-
posed to the strike. They had some com
plants, but not one Of the English o.
Welsh miners would have left work
because of them. They were
intimidated by the threats of th'
men who joined the union, mostly
Slavs. It was not so much threats OF
violence that affected them as th
fear that they would be stigmatized a
''scabs.'' To be known as "scab'' in
the mining region is the deepest disgrace
It not only affects the man to whom
is applied, but it extends to his wife ant
children, and disgraces and ostracize:
them. The threat to proclaim them a
''soabs'' completely oowed the men who
were opposed to the strike, no5withstand
r ing they were IN the large maj ority, and
drove them into idIeness, though down il
their hearts they were anxious to con
1 tinue at work.
Q Mr.. Nelson claims that the condition
S of the miners has been grossly misrepre
sented by the ''yellow" papers. Tumbl
t down novels have been photographed a
typical homes of the miners, and picture