The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-09-22
BLAME LAID
ON RAILROADS
FOR e I The | STRIKE. |',I[;..
President Mitchell Issues statement
Charging Nine Railroad Presi-
dents With Responsibility
OF THE PRESENT TROUBLE.
Discrimination in Rates Cause of the
Uprising-only Carriers Of An
thracito to Tidc-Water Section.

|
thracito to Tide-Water Section.
HAzLEToN, Pa, Sept. 2l.-Presldnnt
Mitchell tonight issued the following:
open Letter TO the Public.
"HAzLETON, Pa, Sept. q, 1900.
ITO the Public:
Fully conscious OF the vast public
interests involved by the great contest
now being waged between organized
capital and under-paid 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 lmpellcd to define my own atti-
tude and the attitude OF my official coll
leagues and the striking mine workers
toward the coal operators in q way SO
clear and definite as to leave no further
room for Misunderstanding. The strik-
ing mine workers recognize us their
real opponents In this struggle for a
slight amelloration of the hard grinding
conditions OF the average miners life.
nine railroads, which. with their presi-
dents. are: Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, Alex. j. Cassatt, president;
Lebigb Valley railroad system, Alfred
Walter, president; Delaware &: Hudson
Railroad Company, r. NJ. olyphant,
president; Delaware, Lackawanna 6
Western Railroad Company, w. II.
Truesdale, president. Central Railroad
Company Of New Jersey, ]. r. Maxwell,
president: Philadelphia & Reading
Railroad Company, Joseph II. Harris,
president; Erie railroad and New York,
Susquehanna &; Western railroad, E. B..
Thomas, president: Delaware, Susque-
hanna & Schuyllsill, irving A.. Stearns,
president; New York. Ontario & West
ern railway, Thomas B. Fowler, presi-
dent.
Sole Carriers to Tide Water.
"These nine railroad corporations. be-
sides producing approximately 72 per
cent of the hard coal, are the sole car
rlers 20 tidewater OF all coal mined In
and for this service OF carriage q
charge from 40 to 6S per cent per ton
according to the size Of the COAL Is
made. Incredible as 1t may appear, they
charge three times as much to carry a
| ton OF anthracite coal one hundred
miles as Is charged TO carry a bitumi !,
nous ton OF coal the same distance.
-"I. speaking for the 10000 mine wor-
kcrs this day on strike, recognize these
| railroads as our real enemies, and name
their presidents as the men responsible
| for refusal to nrbitrate or even confer
upon the differences which have! grown
up, not between them and the organi-
zation I represent. but between them
and their own employees. who, through
delegates selected by themselves. met in
convention in the city Of Hazleton on
August 13. and framed a list of gricv-
ances which were mailed to the general
superlntendents OF the mining depart
ments OF these railroads, accompanied
by an invitation to meet In joint con-
yention on August q. for the purpose
of discussing and II possible, agreeing
upon such change In the scale OF mining
and conditions OF employment as were
warranted by the conditions OF the coal
industry.
Regarded as Fellow Victims.
eve can only regard such independ-
ent operators as the G. B. Markle &
Company, In the light OF fellow victims
with ourselves, suffering under excess
slve freight rates. rs we suffer from
low wages and inhuman conditions Of
employment and we should regard ar
b!trat!on with any or all Of such indl-
yidual operators rs absolutely not cal
culnted TO advance the cause OF the
great body Of anthracite mine workers,
but on the contrary TO bring their cer-
tain 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 Mnrkle
only 30 long as the strike continued
elsewhere. IrG
at is an nbsurdity. from business
point of view, to even assume that
Mark!e or any other individual operator
could continue to pay higher rate Of
wages than his competitors, the rail-
road companies, for any considerable
length of time.
each for all, and to be successful there
must be no break In our line OF action.
1t ought to so without saying at this
late date that am staunch advocate
OF the principle Of arbitration, and did
not personally favor these principles the
laws OF the organization OF which am
president. make arbitration one OF Its
cardinal tenets.
Agreed to Advance.
"In indianapolis. last January. $50
operators and $50 miners delegates,
representing nm annual output of 70, 0,00o.-
900 tons of bltuminous coal in western
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and I'LL
noIs, met In n conference and mutually
agreed that the miners earnings should
advance q 20-l0 per cent.
'.As q result OF this conference and
other similar ones In the states west of
the Mississippi river and south of the
Ohio river, 10000 mine workers re-
ceive an advance In their earnings ag-
gregating S12,0o0.o00 In one year, thus
precluding even the possibility OF n
strike for one full year. at the end OF
which they Will again meet In joint con-
ference to renew the contract and
make such changes In the wages paid
us are justified and warranted by the
cost OF production and the values of
coal In the markets. This, In my opln-
ion, Is the Ideal method of nvcrting
strikes and turmoil and securing for
labor and capital that share OF the pro-
fits OF their Joint industry TO which
each Is properly entitled.
Agreement Could be Reached.
-.