The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-08-30
JOHH MITCHELL.

average eight hours of work. He often
quits work by three or four O'CLOCK
leaving the loading of the car to his
laborer. who works a ten-hour day. In
the soft-coal mines the miner has no
laborer to do his unskilled work. The
two men who work together work as
partners. both being paid by contract,
and each working as long as the other.
Mr.. Mitchell believed that this western
method of working was much better
than the eastern, but he said that few
of the Pennsylvania miners would be
willing, 10 see western system in
produced. IIse'1ue&, OF course. the
attempt Of a, New York newspaper TO
represent the miners" as themselves
grasping employers. who exploited the
down. trodden 'laborers"' under them.
This charge, he said, was nonsense. The
laborer could himself become, miner
after a two years apprenticeship, if he
were a capable man. Very few miners
employed more than one laborer, and
many Of them none at all. The union
contained thirty-odd thousands miners
as against twenty-odd thousands labor
ers. The fact, however, that there was
this division into; two orders had made
it more difficult to organize the mine
workers, and at times made possible
the stirring up Of discord within the
union. Clearly, the New York news
papers criticism had just enough point
in it to make It annoying to the union
and serviceable to those who wish to
disorganize it.
When I left Mr.. Mitchell, my most
vivid impression was of the calmness
with which he entered upon the present
struggle. He did not say declama tory
thing during the entire interview, and
he received every one who came inland
these included an Independent operator
who was ready to concede the unions
demands-with quiet dignity which
gave the assurance that he had the
situation we'll ID hand and was con-
fident Of the unlimited loyalty Of his
supporters. - 49,.
Soon after my talk with Mr.. Mitchell
visited Plymouth, a mining town a
few miles out from Wilkesbarre. It was
evening, and thk streets were full of
people. seemingly light-hearted. There
was no difficulty about talking to min
ers to my hearts content. soon found
that, while they had been divided upon
the question Of kalling the strike, they
were absolutely united upon the quest
ion of c0ntinufnf it until John Mitchell
said stop. When asked how long they
could stay out the answers ranged
from three mon his to six months, and
the miner whose statement won the
most applause vas one who said, It'll
eat my shirt .bebre 30 back as scab
To surprising extent, I found that
these miners atput Plymouth were not
in danger Of be ing evicted, for most Of
them lived in 4ouses owned either by
| themselves or ~ their parents. The
situation in this respect was in marked
! contrast with tt at at Lattmer and most
Of the towns about Hazelton, which I
had seen In previous visits to the coal
| fields. Further1 ore, most Of the houses
were indeflnttelt better than the houses
In the Hazelto1 district, and the num-
Der that had gtrdenss attached showed
that most Of t 1e miners would not be
entirely Dependant upon the store sup
plies. Just h " men receiving the
wages paid to anthracite coal miners
accumulated npney enough to buy
these relf-respfting little homes I do
not know; but he fact remains that not
only in Plymofth, but in the mining
towns I visited later near Scranton, the
great majority Pf the miners seemed to-
be living in del ent comfort. Relatively
few Of them Fere" recent immigrants
from EASTERN 4 southern Europe. The
majority seemf to be Irish-Americans,
and their IriS characteristics were
much less ma <ed than the American.
made sec nd visit to Plymouth the
following morning in order to talk with
an indepei1den operator. who, his men
assured me, Jas willing to grant the;
demands Of til union. When reached