The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-15
:: Lame BACK? IT'S KIDNEY TROUBLE Z!

". But tnat purpose lS not stated III tho
call at all? A. The purpose OF the conven.
tion was to consider the advisability OF
the strike Of the anthracite miners,
among other things, the wish of the an
thracite men to have II extended into
other fields, and that was not its only pur.
pose.
q. When you spoke at the opening OF
the Indianapolis convention. did you not
speak OF 1t as convention called for the
purpose of considering the suspension OF
work?
A. Yes, sir
q. The anthracite districts, as I under
stand, have only three representatives,
out of a total of fourteen, on the ma
ticna board?
A. They have only three representa- tives
on the national executive board.
@. And how many are there on tho
board?
A. Twenty-one altogether, including the
national officers themselves.
@. Let me call your attention again to
this provision of the constitution. Article
TO- section 4, which was read before the
recess: 1.-THE national officers shall at
any time they deem it to the best inter-
ests of mine workers in district that
Is idle for Just and sufficient reasons. Or
der a suspension in other districts. or
districts that would In any way impede
the interests of the district affected"
Now. suppose that there was a strike in
the Western Pennsylvania bituminous
district, and 1t should turn out to be the
fact that the anthracite coal was going
there. could not the national officers. or
der a strike In the anthracite districts.
A. No. they could not. The purpose of
that law con only be understood by ex-
planning what 1t was intended to do. I
might more clearly illustrate what would
be done under those circumstances by
t.nnsl Han ftNv at, tAt IN
stance. this is in substance the same
agreement that we have in every dis
trict: IL is the Illinois agreement. I Will
read from this: "This contract is in no
case to be set aside because of any rules
of the United Mine Workers of America
now in force, or which shall hereafter be
adopted; nor Is this contract to be set
aside by reason of any provision of their
national. state or local constitutions"
The provision YOU have reference to, Mr..
Wilcox. Is intended to apply only to an
emergency of this character-that If one
company operated mines in different dis
tricts and they were to attempt to de-
press wages in one district while supply
ing their own contracts and trade from
another, then the organization claims the
right, in the absence of contracts, to eX-
tend the strike into the mines operated
by that company regardless of what dis
tr:ct those mines are located in.
Q. That does not seem to be the Ian
guage of the section. A. 1t may appear
not: but am explaining what the pur-
pose of the section is. Q. The constitu-
tion requires good deal of construction.
does 1t not? a. That is true of every con-
stitution. Even the constitution of the
United States. O. Were there any con-
tracts in existence at the time this con-
stitution was adopted. A. Yes. sir. Q.
Which ones? A. This constitution that
you have reference to now was revised
in the year 19O2-last January. There
have been some changes made in our
law at each annual convention At the
time the organizat ton was originally
formed, there were no contracts that
know of. @. That is. when the cOnstt-
tuition was first adopted. of course? A.
Yes. sir: but I am not sure that the
constitution is at all similar now to
what it was then. / do not know about
that. Q. Do you know whether there has
been any change in that particular sec
tlon. I do not. @. There has not been
any that you recall? A. I don't know
anything of it, because | was not a dele
gate at the early conventions.
AT this point Mr. Wilcox read the ex-
cerpts from Mr.. Mitchelrs testimony
before the industrial commission, re-
ferred to- above.
Following this, Mr.. Mitchell was
the granting of the demands of the
Hazleton convention in 1900 would in
crease the cost of mining. He, replied
that he understood it would be about 20
per cent.
would it surprise you, if you We're
told the increase in cost of labor alone
would be 20 per cent?" Mr.. Wilcox
asked.
Mr.. Mitchell said he had not done the
figuring. That work was done by a
committee Of the anthracite miners. He
admitted the strike was settled upon
the granting of horizontal increase OF
10 per cent. in wages.
Then the examination proceeded, as
follows:
@. Now, what methods We're adopted
for the purpose of getting the men out in
that strike, as You had only eight thou
sand when 1t began?
A. The officers of the organiza ton and
the mine workers who We're employed
held meetings and asked the men to come
out. They We're notified through the
ne ewspapers that a certain day was set for
the strike as decided by their convention,
and they came out on strike in accordance
with that notice.
.. Were there not various marches
around? A. Yes, in some parts, the men
were out marching. and held meetings
with men at other places. Q. And you
went around and made speeches yourself?
A. | held three or four meetings during
the entire strike. @. ] believe it is a mat
ter of history that YOU held two of them
at the Markle operation, is it not? A.
Yes. sir ] held two meetings. in that part
of the region, one | believe at the Marke
property.
Q. You made a statement in regard to
no har nf I
not know whether caught that correctly.
Will You lust repeat it? A. | said that
there were approximately 10000 or 100, 900
of the anthracite men in the organization
Q. Can you state how many of them are
| under age minors, minor children? A. l
understand that there are employed in
the anthracite mines about 1000 persons
under 2l years Of age, Q. DO they be-
long to unions? A. Yes, sir; most of them
do. We have a seperate branch for boys
under 10 to belong to, so that they Will
not have control of our meetings, juve-
nile branch. Q. over IL years of age,
they have right to vote, have they not?
A. Yes, sir Q, And under l6, a half a
vote? A. Yes. sir
@. Can you state how many of the mem
bers are miners and how many laborers?
A, There are some $1,000 miners and 10000
mners' laborers.
Q. How are votes ordinarily taken in
the locals? A. Ordinarily by a show OF
hands or a yea and nay vote. .. Some
times by tellers ] suppose? A. They may
be, That do not know, We have no es-
| tablished rule. They are permitted to
vote as they decide themselves.
@. Do these demands that you are max
| ing now contemplate any increase to the
miners laborers? A. Yes, an increase of
20 per cent. Q. In their pay, or reduc-
| tion in their hours? A. In their pay. @.
| And a raanctiou of their hours tOo9 A