The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-14
Circulation Statement.
The Pennsylvania Coal strike.

The Pennsylvania Coal Strike.
Private information from New York and
Philadelphia leads US to believe that the
Republican National Committee is making
strenuous appeals to the magnates of the
Coal Trust. begging them TO make some
concession to the miners of the anthra-
cite region in order to save the Mckinley
and Roosevelt ticket from the destruction
that the party's political experts predict
for it if the great coal strike, ordered for
Monday is allowed TO get under way.
So far, the trust has not shown the slight
est disposition to come to terms, but, on
the contrary, is displaying irritation over
the attempt OF its Republican associates
TO dominate its course in what the coal
barons insist is strictly business matter.
Therefore. it is the general consensus OF
opinion that matters have gone too far to
make an accommodation presently posi-
bic, and that the strike will occur as or
dered In view of the gravity of the ap-
preaching struggle between the anthracite
Coal Trust and its army of nearly or quite
q struggle which will affect the livelihood
or bread of almost a million people-it is
well for the public to understand the min
ers' position and what they demarN and
why
Nominally. a good coal miner is able to
earn about one dollar and seventy
five cents day. out of which he
must pay for his powder. In practice. his
earnings will average about enc dollar and
thirty five cents a day.
But what the miner earns by the hard
est and most dangerous kind of labor. does
not represent to him what the same sum
would to a free laborer, who receives his
wages in cash weekly. and is able to buy
the necessaries of life in open market.
wherever he can buy the cheapest The
anthracite coal miner is paid only once
month. Between pay days he is obliged
10 draw pay checks from his employer,
good only at the company's store. where
profits are said to range from fifty to one
hundred per cent. By the time his month
IL wage is due II is generally exhausted
by the truck store debts against him.
Considering the extortion pratieed under
this system. it is doubtful If. in the long
run, the purchasing power of the miners
daily earning OF one dollar and thirty
i've cents is much IL any greater than that
Of one dollar would be in the hands of
mechanic employed in a city like Wash
ingtcu.
Injustice 10 the man who spends half
or more of his life in the bowels Of the
earth to provide warmth for happy homes.
and energy to turn the wheels OF indus
try. does not stop with the swindle of the
company store. Every miner must furnish
his own powder for blasting In the open
market. If permitted. he could buy 1t for
one dollar and fifty cents per keg. The
trust will not allow him 10 do this. He
must take It from his employer at two
dollars and seventy-fve cents per keg.
The Coal Trust furnishes its customer
with two thousand pounds Of coal and calls
that 4 ton. The legal ton is two thousand
two hundred and forty pounds But when
f. comes 10 paying the miner for mining
ton Of coal. he must show for II three
thousand three hundred pounds. screened.
The fine coal which drops through the
screen is waste as far as the miner is
concerned. but It is not so to the Coal
Trust. which ships and sells It as pea"
coal. at good price. SO. all the way up
and down. the trust takes it out Of the
poor miner.
The miner must submit to have his
wages doeked SO much per month TO sup
port the company doctor. who. not infre-
queEtly. Is beardless youth. Just out OF
medical school. whose chief qualification
for the position he holds Is relationship
20 some trust director or officer.
The foregoing. in brief. represents the
grievances and expressions under which
the miners of the anthracite region-or
the greater part OF it-are suffering. 1t
only requires plain statement OF the
facts TO demonstrate the jastiee of their
claim to redress. What they have asked
and will strike Tor. because their respect
full representations have been treated with
oontemptuous silence by a great trust
which but recently donated fortune 10
the Republican corruption fund. may be
hafeey stated The miners demands are:
The abolition OF the company stores; re-
ductien in the price OF powder to one dol
lar and ffty cents key, abolition Of com
pany doctors; semi-monihly payment o,
wages: abolition OF the sliding scale:
wages 10 be paid IN cash: twenty-five hun
dreA and forty pounds to the ton; an al.
vance CT twenty per cent in wages less
than one dollar and fifty cents; that all
classes OF day labor now receiving one dol
lar and Atty cents and not exceeding one
dollar and seventy 1--WE cents shall receive
nfteeh per cent over present wages: that
all day labor now receiving one dollar and
seycnty-nYe cents shall be advanced ten
per cent. and that no miner shall have al
any time moro than one breast gang. or
other class Of work. and shall get only his
legal share OF cars.
What the mlneys have been getting has.
fer year past. amounted to semi-s,arya-
tion. What they strike for would not
much more than keep body and soul de-
Gently together. remembering that an
average family OF from three TO Ave per-
sons must be supported out OF each mans
earnings. The trust aas been coming
money out OF the misery and arduous
,abor OF its sorfs. The price of coal is
higher and the margin OF pront higher
than for years. The anthracite coal COM
blDation. monopoliEiaR the only feld In
America producing that particular com
modify In quantity. is exempt from com
petition. II has the market to itself ane