New-York tribune., 1900-09-17
THE BIG HARDCOAL REGION
WHERE STRIKE HAS BEEN DECLARED
sEvENTY-FIvE MILLION TONS ARE
ANNUALLY PRoDUCED-OvER
HUNDRED AND FORTY
THOUSAND WORKERS.

Razleton Penn, Sept. Is CspeciaD.-The great
strske in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsyl-
.,.rta ordered by the United Mine Workers Union
OF America Is now Operators and men have
beth taken the initiative il is admitted that inc
trouble will be far reaching in Its results ano X IL
extends into u1idwinter there are few portions or
b ,,n+r, where its effects will not be felt. Pro-
6uction will be stopped in the greatest coal heio IN
the world. Over one hundred and forty thousano
r-en upon whom a million people depend TOT sup
rort will be out OF employment. The prices Oh
anthracite coal will be advanced at an early DAY
.r,ts IS an already agreed fact In few months
tnere will be a scarcity Of hard coal ana I" 10
l.rd to predict 10 what figures the price VIII jump
T.stness men and others who know what such d
. ike means view the situation with the most
r-oomy forebodings. 1t is prophesied that peiore
: trouble is all settled the militia will be calleo
s; This is the story OF all these great strlhes
This Is preceded by suffering and much misery
People who have never been In the anthraoi'e
eoal fields can have no conception OF the excite
snent Of the last few months-the asltatlon eha'
has led 70 the order strike RED not Freslue'4
.tsl campaign is nothing compared TO H. Eooo
sneakers have visited the region in the past weeks
end they have addressed audiences or from nVe
thousand TO ten thousand persons Ihere nave
been stu more gatherings OF from one thousanu ~
three thousand men. The labor aglua,ors t Nno"
how 70 sway these people. and no pohucal orator
eyer appealed to audiences whose deepest sym
pathles are aroused in this section Faraoes'
torchlight professions and bonhres nave oeeh pa'
rf all demonstration
Outside OF four counties in Pennsylvania, there are
ser anthracite coal mines IN the United States-
Their aggregate output is less than seventy-hNe
thousand year. and the coal Is poot eo'
OF anthracite The anthracite coal output IN fenh-
svIyaria amounts to almost seventy-nve mllllou
tons q wear These hard coal fields are DIVIDED
locally into four regions-the Lehigh the senuyi-
Kill, the Lackawanna and the Scranton.
The total area Of all anthracite coal basins Is as
follows:
30 2-sSson 90 Mahanoy. IshiEh Basins 81 las las
-..-..,.. ,.,,. ............... 4T2
II all these hard coal basins were brought to-
gether they would form district twenty miles
wide and little less than twenty-tour miles Iohs'
vet from these practically the world receives the
greatest portion Of its supply Of anthracite
One OF the leading questions now is VIII the
miners OF the schuylkI region go QUIZ Here the
men are mostly employed by the Phila delpha and
Reading Coal and Iron Company. They number
about thirty thousand and not as well or
ganized as in the neighborng territory they have
fewer grievances. but the leaders say there VIII oe
e strike here also. Oficers Of the company deny
this They do not believe that many OF their men
will out work out Of sympathy. Lykens and Will
Jamestown. in the schuylkilI district employing
about twenty-three hundred men and boys. Will
likely shut down. Of these one thousand i've at
Lykens and the rest a. Williamstown and adjacent
that locality is about six hundred. and those IN the
confidence Of the men say they will all quit work
Many others who not members Of the union
VIII Join in strike rather than be called scabs
by their fellow workmen. The mines IN that To-
calty have been in operation almost constantly the
last year Many Of the own their own homes.
Miners will try get other Jobs In the Schuylkil
district many mine owners appear to be reconcliec
10 strike They say that If the men go out mines
will be shut down and attempt made to resume.
Il VIII be long strike. Shenandoah Mahanoy
City Gilberton Girardville and Minersville miners
reported strongly organized. These towns are
ali n the schuylkill basin. The strike order ap-
plies the entire anthracite coal region. Affecting
Scranton. Carbondale Wilkesbarre, Plttston, Nan
ricoke Hazieton Treverton. Shamokin. Ashland,
Shenandoah. Mahanoy City. Lansford Tamaqua,
PottsvtlIe. Minersville. fremont. Tower City and
other places. Wflkesbarre Scranton, Hazleton and
Shamokin are the hotbeds Of the strike movement.
Not all of the miners are organized, but the Ma
tional officers claim that those not organized will
Join the strikers II was supposed the Philadel-
phia and Reading Coal and Iron Company's coll
;eries would be included in the order. The
strike however applies them. for the abolition
Of the sliding scale is one Of the grievances
NUMBER OF MEN EMPLOYED
II the anthracite coal fields Of Pennsylvania
directly employed total Of 1920 men, all except
i,39e foremen and superintendents being affected
BY the strike order OF this total number sO,eS5
care inside employees and 90 as outside employees
The former include 1886 miners, 23s05 laborers.
lo,267 drivers. 3073 doorboys, S08 fire bosses and
l6,lo5 all others, and the latter are made up as
follows: SS75 slate pickeTs 4,445 engineers and
nrernen. 205S blacksmiths and carpenters sSs all
others These include Americans, Austrians
Elglshmen. Germans. Hungarians, Irish Italians
Poles Russians Scotch Swedes, Slavs Welsh and
Greeks-certainly a heterogeneous and cosmopol-
titan population OF the 40 900 miners 5000 are said
70 belong the union
There are some surface indications which look
m he
are apprehensive OF trouble. w. J. Quinn a mule
dealer. OF Pottsvile, has been securing the coun-
try in quest Of boarding places for the mules en-
gagged in and about the mines in the Hazleton and
Wyoming regions He has secured stalls for , aoO
Of the animals among the farmers near tho rail
way stations. Mr. Quinn says that this means
that the operators are determined 10 shut down
operations and not try 10 work during the strike
4 the men obey the strike order Hosting the
mules from the mines, he says is done only in
extreme measures. The mules will be sent o,,t for
three months TO begin with. An official of The
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Companv
says:
While TIE mines have not been working YER, s,ll
5or several months the men had steady work for
hearly year until the early summer. They are
mostly Of saving class, and notwithstandjnse 1be
fsct that they have periodical spells Of idieness
They 40 not spend all their money but as a rule
are frugal and prepare for rainy days Oi
In the last ten years there have been rnan,, rr.,
homes erected by the Poles and number OF ,be,t
are well 70 do. They are rapidly becoming An,sr,.
can citizens, and their children speak English
luently. They honest, and most OF them roake
good citizens. II is claimed that the Poles havt
isNed more money than any other class, and that
they can better AFFORD hold out If a long str1t.
should result than any other nationality ~ 49,
foreign element.
There are few coieries Of the Reading conona,,
tnat are not now being worked for six three-quar.
ter DAYS a week. and some of them are nakins
Ir1n he of-sp .