Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-10

summer for their winter use. But now the
shriekinE stridor OF the eonveyors has
rusted Into silence ana the grim. black
breakers look down with uncompasslonate
hostility upon the clustered hamlets a,
their bases.
Not only are the breakers tale, but they
are boarded up and fenced IN as well with
high barbados, surmounted By barbed
wire. Behind these barriers the coal com
panies have gathered their clerks and GER
tain Of the company hands. who are sworn
II as members OF the coal and Iron police
force, according to the laws Of the state.
for the protection OF the company's prop.
erty. These men are armed and kept UNI
der military discipline. At the headquar-
tiers OF each COAT company they are lodged
In barracks, fed at q common mess and
put through regular drills. Il is a state
OF war which, fortunately, has not reached
an acute stage. The strikers have 20 far
behaved with moderation, except IN some
Instances where a few hot-headed individ-
uals have precipitated slight diniculties.
II should also be said that the compa-
niles have not needlessly provoked trouble
since the strike began. They have not for
hidden the picking OF coal from the dumps,
where hundreds OF the women and children,
az well rs the men. have swarmed daily.
While hard coal can be bought 1t the sea-
board and elsewhere At an advanced price.
In the anthracite coal regions from the
day when the strike was declared the com
pahies prohibited che sails Of ccai at any
price. The result IL that coal, more or
less weather-beate and cossrsd with iron
dust, Il being peddied By men and boys
from door to door. Sacks, dishpans, Wheel
barrows, as we'll as carts and wagons, fIled
with such coal, are seen even in the streets
Of the cities.
There Is also a smell Of bitumlnous coal
smoke In the air. soft coal IL being
burned In the factories. The peculiar smell
and the haze that goes with Il are not nm.
common In many places In the east where
they have not been noticed before. IN the
anthracite regions they have been abso-
lutely unknown for q generation. Not
since the great suspension, as the long.
continued strike Of 1878 Is called, has
there been bituminous coal burned In this
district.
The strikers ask for the redress Of Ger.
tain grievances, for q day Of eight hours
instead Of ten. as At present. and for the
recognition Of the labor union. wages on
the basis Of an eight-hour day would be
equivalent to an increase Of 20 per cent
on the present wages. In regard to the
question Of wages, widely different esti-
mates have been made. The operators in
the figures they give vary from $50 to SIS
per month; but the Pennsylvania bureau
OF mines and mining gives oficiai statistics
that show an average wage Of less than
s26 per month the year round. This In.
ciudes all sorts Of labor about the mines,
whether performed by men or boys.
Position OF the Operators.
The position Of the coal operators may
be briefly summed up as follows: They
declare that they cannot Afford to increase
wages at The present price OF coal. Espe-
cialiy DO they insist that they cannot allow
the men to dictate through the labor union
or when or with what sort Of labor or
what wages they shall run their mines.
They refuse to recognize the union and
they refuse TO arbitrate through the Civic
Liberation The oparatora rely en- the
needs Of the men to bring the s e
to an end. OutwArdiy there are as yet few
signs Of pinchine poverty. Many Of the
foreigners have returned to Italy or
Hungary, especially the unmarried men
who have crowded the boarding houses.
Of those who remain some have found work
low wages as day iaborers. while others
have gone into the farming districts, to help
the harvest fields. The strikers make
Every effort TO keep their own men and all
aonunion men from going to work. The