Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-11-22


ing made or will be made to settle the
differences existing between the mine
workers and the operators outside the
commission appointed by the President
and il is said contemplated adjourn
ment will be taken in order to give both
sides Il chance to get together. Judge
Gray'S remarks at todays session sug-
gest this conclusion.
Scranton. Pa. NOV. 21.-The exami-
nation of DR.. Il. H. Gibbons of Scran-
ton, was Immediately resumed when
the anthracite coal strike commission
met, today. He said that the occupa-
ton of a miner subjects a man to
pleurisy. govt. neuralgia, asthma. brOn-
chitis, sciatica and other diseases. Chill
dren, he said. who have suffered from,
any form of disease of the respiratory
passages, bronchitis or pneumonia
should never be permitted in the mines
under the age Of Is years because they
should have n chance to eliminate the
predispOsing factor in the case of so
called miners asthma.
DIR. Gibbons then described the sur
face indications of miners asthma, his
testimony in this respect not differing
essentially from that given by other
expert witnesses. On further cXami-
alton DIR. Gibbons said he did not
mean to be understood as saying that
miners from an unhealthy class. but
that they are debilitated and run down
He spoke of the necessity for having
an ambulance service at the different
hn
amined by James II. Torrey, for the
Delaware & Hudson Co. III reply to Il
question Dr.. Gibbons said he did not
believe there was nm ambulance in the
entire coal regions that had sterilized
blankets or that We're sterile them
selves.
I'm fact" said the doctor, they are
a bunch of Infection. Every ambu-
lance carries death and disease to every
unfortunate miner who is placed in it
DIR. Gibbons was followed by DR..
Eugene J. Butler, a member of the CEN
trail poor board of Luzerene county,
who testified that 20 per cent. of those
in one of the poor houses of Luzerene
county were miners and that 40 per
cent. were crippled by accidents in and
about the mines. Many of these, he
said, had become insane through
worry over their affiiction. A man who
works few years as miner. re de-
clares. is not fit for anything else.
A. II. McClintOck, representing the
Lehigh & Wi!kesbarre Coal Co., cross
examining the witness, asked if it was
not true that a large number of the
professional men and merchants in
Wilkesbarfe Were men whose fathers
and grandfathers had been employed
i'm the mines.
IF that is So the witness replied,
the fathers and grardfathers were the
wise fellows who got out in time. They
were not men who worked for 20 or %
years in the mines"
Dr. Butter was excused and the Rev
DR.. Roberts was recalled to the stand
his examination being conducted by Nj.
barrow for the mine workers. He reit-
Grated his belief expressed in his book
that an intelligent and persistent COM
mission among miners for the mainte-
nance of prices and rates of wages would
secure a just share Of the profit for the
workers. In answer to Commissioner
Clark, DIR. Roberts defined the use of
the words anthracite syndicate in his
book by saying he had reached the con-
clusion that there was an understanding;
among the operators to adjust the prices
and regulate the trade. This conclusion
he had reached from personal investiga
ton.
I'm view of the last strike Mr.. OAR
row asked, land everything that has oc-
CURED since, have your views as to the
desirahiity of collective bargaining in
the anthracite regions been modified or
alI?"
Strengthened, decidedly" the witness
replied.
After reading extracts from an article
in magazine supposed to have been
written by DIR. Roberts. Mr.. Darrow ask
ed what was the temper of both parties
during the five months of the strike. The
witness replied that it was condition
of war and that both sides were inten-
perate. DR. Roberts in reply to a que.s-
ton as TO what wages man should re-
ceive to maintain the American standard
of living. said that he would place the
that amount. he said. the miner and his
family would suffer physically. intellec-
tually and mentally.
The commission adjourned until tomor-
row so that the commissioners could con-
fer regarding a suggested adjournment
for week or 10 days in order to allow
both sides to prepare their documentary
evidence