Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-16
SOFT COAL MEMS AID
President Gilday Says Little
 Bituminous Is Going Out.
MINERS AWAIT MITCHELL'S ORDER.
Strikers Will Win Because of Ruin Which Is Sure to Follow Aban- donment of Mines-Quiet In
 Anthracite Region.

WILKESBARRE, Pa. June 16.-
 Patrick Gilday, president of the central
 Pennsylvania bituminous district of l the United Mine Workers of America, l who came here to consult President l Mitchell on a matter local to his dis
 trict, in talk with press correspond
 ent gives an insight as to what the soft
 coal miners in his territory are doing to help their brother workmen ill the an- thracite field
 MT. Gilday said thare are 42,000 soft coal miners in this district, and every
 one of them is taking a deep interest ill
 the struggle now going on ill this re- zion. On the second day of the strike
 MT. Gilday sent out instructions to ev-
 cry check weighman and pit commit
 teeman at the mines in his district to prevent the shipment of soft coal into
 anthracite territory, and thus far, he
 said, very little coal from his district has taken the place of anthracite.
 There have been only four attempts by unionized mines to send soft coal to the anthracite markets" he said. "One order was intended for Mount Carmel, I New York. As soon as our men at the mines learned the intended destination of the coal we requested the mine own- CTS not to send it, and they complied with the request. We are not interfer- ing with the normal shipment of soft coal''
 President Gilday said he had no per- sonal knowledge that the other bitumi- nous district presidents were doing the same as himself, but he felt sure they were. There is some soft coal coming into the anthracite market from central Pennsylvania and West Virginia, but it is mostly of nonunion production.
 When asked regarding the feeling in his territory as to a general strike to help the hard coal miners, MT. Gilday said:
 Our men will do whatever President Mitchell says. They can have our fnan- cial support, and if MT. Mitchell sees fit to ask our men to lay down their picks they will do it promptly. I do not believe, however, there will be a gener- al strike of the soft coal miners, be- cause the anthracite men are going to win without it.'
 Asked as to how the miners expected to win in view of the fact that they have practically reached the limit of their resources in this region i'll press ing the operators and the latter still stand out firmly, he replied:
 By the slow destruction of mine property. By that 1 mean that if they do not give the men the hours and pay they ask for they will not consent to go into the mines and preserve the opera tions. The collieries will fill if the strike is not soon ended, and the mines will begin to squeeze or cave in. All the timbermen are out, and the timber which holds up the roofs of mines will soon begin to give way. These squeezes will cost thousands of dollars to repair and probably be the cause of the aban- donment of many costly operations. When the investors pockets begin to feel it, change in the attitude of the operators will come, and the miners can wait for the change"
 President Gilday's mission here was to get President MitchelFs consent to strike against the Sonman Shaft Coal company near Portage, Pa, and also the financial support of the national organization. He received both. The strike at that place was inaugurated on April Is because the company would not recognize the union and sign the wage scale About 15O men are involved.
 The strike at the Bloomington mines near Phillipsburg, Pa, has been set tied, and the men will return to work Five hundred men struck there last because four men would not join the union The four men have quit work.
 There are no developments here. President Mitchell is in frequent tele- graphic communication with his men 1 in the west on general organization work. He has no information to i'm part on either the strike in this region or the West Virginia suspension.