The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-09-26
sITuATIoN Ar HAzELroN.

NEW YORK, Sept. Pa special to
, the Times fromHazeltOn. Pa, says:
The strike Of the coal miners is not
yet complete in the Lehigh region,
! which President Mitchell of the Mine
! Workers Union is most anxious to an
nounce as no longer a source Of the an
! thracite coal supply. But it has ex-
tended slightly here at Hazelton and il
may include tomorrow a greater num-
Der of men than on any day since the
strike began a week ago.
Although the independent operators
of the north side. who have continued
operations with crippled forces. about
held their own. there Is some reason
to fear that today may find the collier
les Of the Coke Company. the largest
operators here, employing 5000 men, and
those Of G. B. Markle & Company idle
and possibly destined to be idle for
months.
This will be very important day to
the employees of Markle & Company,
and one much more important to all
who have hoped to see a victory for
the principle of arbitration as a result
of the strike. with such gains TO the
miners as they could gain by submit
ting their grievances to imperial judges.
Less than a week ago Father Phi
lips voluntarily addressed the Jeddo
miners In support of the principle prac-
ticed by the Markle Company. He said
he had fought for arbitration and was
lighting for it. II he believed the
Mine Workers Union would refuse the
right of man to arbitrate his grlev-
ances with his employer he would de-
nounce il.
III you refuse to arbitrate,' he said,
you are dealing the hardest blow to
organized labor it has ever received. II
you refuse to accept these propositions
you will deserve all the misery that will
be yours for a century"
A chance remains for the continuance
at Jeddo of amicable business relations
between employers and employed. To-
day will be due the answer to the min
ers' bill of grievances submitted Sep
tember 10.
1t may be assumed that G. B. Markle
Il Company will seize the opportunity
to put arbitration to real test by
submitting the powder question to a
decision by arbitration. As they have
already expressed a willingness to ac-
cept Archbishop Ryan. in case of
disagreement by the other two arbitra-
tors. renewal of that offer would at
least be an indication Of good faith,
possibly not fully justified by the re-
ported attitude of Archbishop Ryan to-
ward the strike. The impression here
among other operators is that the offers
of Markle & Company win be spurned
and that they will have to stop busi-
ness.
After the strike has run another week
without some advance from one side
or the other looking to some reason
able settlement. the distress that must
follow will begin, to assert itself. The
cold weather that will worry the city
housekeeper viii find the idle miner,
who will then cease to have credit,
obliged to draw on his savings or the
relief fund supposed to be at the COM
mand of the United Mine Workers.
City tradesmen have already begun
to feel the necessity for protecting
A notice appears in this
afternoons paper that the butchers Of
Hazelton have 1ecided that on and af-
ter today they will sell for cash only.
This action the notice says. was forced
upon many butchers on the verge Of
bankruptcy owing to the strike and 1t !