Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-11-18
Illinois Operators are to be Invited to
Testify Before the Strike
Commission.

anu 1uQulreQ. F. ,-"t ..'0
"Do you still feel at liberty to say
that it is none of your business what
additional cost the people will have
to pay for their coal if that additional
cost is the immediate result of your
demands?"
II have not said at any time it was
none of our business" replied Mr..
Mitchell. "I have stated it was be.
yond our control. That we have abso-
lutely nothing to do with the selling
price of COAL" a
years to make up the loss they sus.
tanned during the striker" Mr.. Mac.
Veagh asked.
"Not by any MEANS was the posi-
tive answer of Mr.. Mitchell. So. :
Mr.. Mitchell, do you think you have
the right. to ask for an increase in
wages which, if granted, would increase
the cost Of living to hundreds OF thou
sands of poor?" s.a.
The miners representative replied
that there are 100000 persons in the
anthracite fields who are starving and
their fundamental right is to ask for
living wages in return for their labor.
Denies Stones Assertion
Mr.. MacVeagh then read Governor
Stones proclamation calling out the
troops, in which the governor said
there was a reign of terror in the re-
gion. Mr.. Mitchell denied the correct
ness of the governors assertions.
The eight-hour day question was
taken up and in reply to query as to
whether he had a right to limit mans
labor to eight hours day Mr.. Mitchell
replied: ST 81,
= We favor a maximum of eight
hours and moment later, in answer
to similar question, said, 1--WE will
accept whatever award the commits
sion makes and that award will have
precedence over the laws of the
union" ~. .-. ....-
Then Mr.. MacVeagh said: "Abra-
ham Lincoln would split long rails and
he did not limit himself to eight hours.
and you demand it not only for the
men in the mines but for all the men
above as we'll. He was doing infinitely
harder work than nine-tenths of your
men employed above ground. So with
Garfield when he was a boy trudging
along the sides of the canal. So was
Mr.. Mckinley in his early boyhood. l
only mention these because they were
the victims of anarchy infiicting the
country today and the only serious
curse affecting it."
# Mr. Mitchell took quick notice of the
word anarchy as employed by Mr..
yMacVeagh and with considerable spir.
it promptly inquired:
Trade unions are not held RESPONSE
BILE for it, are they? %
Trade Unions Not Responsible.
NO, certainly not said Mr.. Mac
Veagh. ''Trade unions are most ad-
mirable, but you make demand upon
us that we shall prohibit every man in
our employ from working more than
eight hours. That strikes us as per-
fectly inadmissable."
In answer to further questions Mr..
Mitchell entered into detailed de-
scriptiOn of the workings of the union.
Mr.. Mitchell, upon the request of
Judge Gray, said that the officers Of
the union under pay had contributed
81 per cent per month of their sal
aries for the benefit of the striking
miners. The fact was brought out that
4SAAs N4ALNAACkA hou u1u tC1CplOu6 COu-
ferences with Senator Hanna just pre-.
yious to the settlement of the strike
OF 1900.
OF course that was the year In
which Mr.. Bryan was again candi-
date for the presidency" said Mr.. Mac.
Veagh, "and you were conscious of the
great apprehe tensions entertained by the
financial interests Of the country as to
the possibility Of his election?'
" We'll, understood they were very
aprehensive. was the response.
Mr.. MacYeagh asked IL any advance
secured by the miners was not due to
that apprehension.
Il believe said Mr.. Mitchell, that
the fact that an election was pending
had something to do with the early
settlement Of the strike.
Question Of Yearly Contracts.
Mr.. MacVeagh here took up the sug.
gesti0n for yearly agreement and at.
tempted to show that the union could
not control its members and, there.
fore, an agreement is, impracticable.
Mr.. Mitchell said there were many
differences that both sides Justly com.