Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-11
Condition. in the Strike Section.

existing in the section covered by the
| big coal strike. 1t is safe to say tnat
| the general public is now pretty well
informed as to the points at issue be-
tween the operators and the miners;
hut II ia very evident that many mis-
| conceptions exist in the public mind as
| to the conditions under which mining
| operations were carried on prior to the
! strike. The newspapers, magazines.
and reviews are full of contradictory
| statements. Prominent clergymen
and men eminent in various walks Of
life. all over the country have freely
given the public the benefit of their
views upon the existing situation. 1t
was to be expected that a wide diver
gence would be found in their opinions
as to the best means of dealing with
the emergency: but it is surprising to
note what a wide difference exists in
their understandings of the actual
facts. behind the present hostile array
Of economic forces. Even the COR
respondents and magazine writers
who nave been sent to the coal region to
conduct personal Observation-Disclosures
who were the pick of the reportorial
stats of their respective publications,
and who were, doubtless, sincere in
their desire to ascertain and state the
exact facts have sent home contra
dictory reports.
No man in a battle is able from his
own field of vision to give an accurate
account of it as a whole. He can only
state the facts pertaining to the limited
portion of it that came under his own
personal observation. History is the
summary of many such reports which.
taken together, cover the whole field
of conflict. ..
So it is with the great industrial bat
tie being waged in the Pennsylvania
coal section. The reports sent out may
all be true the seeming contradictions
arising from the fact that each writer
has stated the case from his own angle
Of observation, and has made the mis-
take of thinking that his own personal
| horizon comprehended the entire situa-
| ton. One writer tells us that the
miners are we'll paid; that they work
| but from four to six hours day; that
| a large portion of them own their own
| homes. and that the banks in the coal
region.at the beginning of the strike
A., were carrying thousands of dollars of
| their savings. Another writer asserts
that the miners live in squalid hillside
| novels into which they are crowded
| with a reckless disregard of all laws of
| sanitation; that they sleep here in rude
| hunks, and subsist on the coarsest
| kind of fare. He declares that the
wages paid these men are wholly dis
proportionate to the hours they work
and the labor they perform, and that
| many of them are never out Of debt to
the company stores from one years
end to another.
To understand how it is possible fol
such. apparently. irreconcilable state
ments to be sent out from the sans
general source it is necessary to under
stand clearly the methods under which
mining operations have heretofore
been carried on in the anthracite field
Obviously those best qualified to beal
testimony on this subject are the
newspapers published in the strike
region, whose editors and reporters
are familiar with the situation in al
its hearings. From these sources the
Journal has accumulated large
phases of the existing contest, which
taken together will, we think, give {
fairly accurate idea of the whole ques
ton.
To begin with, a great deal of mis-
apprehension exists in the public mint
: as to the meaning of the wore
miner" 1t has been applied general
I ~ to all the men involved in the pres
!, ent strike. In the coal region, how
5 ever it has a much more limited ap
plication. Under law passed by tn,
Pennsylvania legislature July Is, 1897
the miners. or the men who blast on
0 tke coal in the mine chambers. wer
t obliged to hold certificates from tn
S state. and operators were forbidden t,
e employ any men in this capacity wh
were not thus licensed to perform tn
work. To obtain a miners certificat
or license the law requires that a mai
must have had mot less than tw,
years practical experience as miner
or as mine laborer in the mines o
this commonwealth
1t will thus be seen that miner an,
a mine laborer are two very differen
and distinct persons. The immediat
effect of this miners law. with it
State limitation, was, it is said, t,
throw about 10000 men out of employ
ment. No matter how experienced il