Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1900-11-01
LESSONS or THE COIL
STRIKE.


After struggle lasting SO days, i,
which the workers pitted theil
strength and endurance against !
stupendous aggregation Of capital
embracing all Of the coal mining
companies and the coal-carryins
railroad companies Of that region
the men have come off victorious
and the greatest point ever We,
scored BY organized American labol
has been recorded.
While the victory can not bt
called complete one, the conces-
sions made by the operators are
perhaps as great as the men ex-
pected when the strike was inau-
gurated and they are certainly
much greater than the operators
expected to grant at that time, if
we are to take their own state
ments i'll regard TO the situation as
a criterion by which to be guided.
The big fight made BY the opera
tors all the way through was
against the miners union as an
organization. Their plan was to
crush the union once for all, for in
it they recognized formidable OPP
ponent to their system Of doing
business, which was and is nothing
more nor less than the piling up Of
colossal fortunes from wealth wrung
from the product Of overworked
and underpaid labor. Every mighty
influence which could be brought
TO bear against the union was call
ed into action. The head and CEN
ter Of the money-trust power in
Wall street was appealed to.
Threats we're made. Statements
were given out that if the men re-
fused to return to work on the
operators terms the mines would
be closed for good and that the
men and their families would starve.
But in the face Of all this the mine
workers, to man, stood BY their
colors. They refused to be coerced
by threats Of starvation or driven
into acts of lawlessness BY design
ing deputies. They followed the
course which they had mapped out
for themselves at the beginning in
a methodical, peacable, lawful man
ner, and by SO doing they carried
with them the good viii and SYM
pathy Of the entire press and peo-
pie Of the country.
For the first time in the history
of American labor strikes q vast
majority Of the people were with
the strikers, because they recog-
nized the fact that every considera-
tion Of right and justice was on
their side.
What was the secret Of the strik-
ers' success? Complete organiza-
tion. They had perfected thor
ough organization of their union
months, perhaps years, before and,
from their meager earnings, had
been laying up goodly fund against
a day Of want. They went into the
fight fairly well equipped TO hold
out for months, If need be, and
with determination to win-and
they won.
Every labor union, every work
ing man in the country should
learn many valuable lessons from
the coal strike First Of all they |
should learn that in union, and in
that alone, there is strength. Again
they should learn that no strike
has ever yet been won by violence.
Peaceful methods are the best be-
cause they command the respect of
the country, and public opinion is
still a forceful factor III American
life. Perhaps no otherlabor organ
ization in the country contains as
large percent tofoverworked, under
paid, half-fcd and illiterate men,
bers as does the anthracite coal |
miners union, but it remained for
them to inaugurate and carry to a !
successful issue the greatest strike |
Of the age. What they have done
other labor organizations possess
ing higher degree Of intelligence,
Of material wealth and Of bodily /
comforts certainlYcando, and il all
such will learn these iessons from
the coal strike and net on them il
r a