The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-10-24
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
WASHINGTON, D. c., October Goth.

coal strike, which means so much to such
a large number of Americans, has been
accomplished and the people must thank
Mr.. Roosevelt for the result. While the
| indications are that, sooner or later, the
operators would have had to back down
from their unwarranted position, their
having done so now is due 10 the earnest
and intelligent efforts of the President.
As President Mitchell remarks in his let
ter accepting the arbitration commission
appointed by the President, if the opera
tors had been willing to submit the matter
to arbitration at the outset, and as they
have done now, there need have been no
strike, and it is to be hoped that the lesson
of the anthracite strike of 1902 will burn
deep and will result in the calling in Of
fair and disinterested arbitrators in all
labor difficulties.
In the November bulletin of the Bureau
of Labor appear speeches made to the
President by the operators at their first
White House conference, along with a
number of statistics concerning the indus
try. Among other things, the statement
is made over the signature of President
Baer that to the 26,270 miners employed
by the Reading mines wages were paid
which average 1896 20 per year. From
this amount must be deducted rent and
the cost of powder and oil, the assessment
for the company doctor, etc, leaving a
net balance for the miner and his family
of $14s, little over $2.76 per week. On
the surface, the miners appear to receive
good wages by the day, but the number
of days employed reduces the weekly in
come to the figure given. If there were
plenty of miners who were willing to re-
turn to work at those wages, provided
they were given adequate military pro
tecticn, 1t is interesting to know what be
comes Of that abundant prosperity which
is the republican slogan and on which Mr..
Hanna urges the people to stand pat.
While the utmost satisfaction is ex-
pressed with the personnel OF the arbitra-
ton committee the President has ap-
pointed, it is generally conceded that the
work before the commission is of a hercu
lean character. Among the contentious
of the miners are that they shall have a
representative at the weighing dumps who
shall be appointed by their union and
shall be paid by the operators. They also
demand 90 per cent increase of wages
and an eight hour day for the laborers,
the miners proper working by the piece
There may be no injustice in the present
system of docking, but in view Of the fig
ures it is not surprising that the miners
believe there is. For instance, from one
colliery of the Delaware aud Hudson there
were mined 49,, 1913 tons of coal and the
miners were paid for but 1873, 1929. In an
other colliery of the same company the
coal mined amounted to 497,23S and the
miners were paid for Ala ,491 tons. In an
Ontario and Hudson colliery the coal
mined amounted to 289, 956 and the miners
were paid for 239, 269 tons. These figures
are taken from the report of the State
mine inspector.
Secretary Shaw has finally been com
PEELED to resort to the purchase of bonds
He has long resisted the pressure in this
direction FOR the reason that he did not
wish to follow in the footsteps of Secre
tary Gage, but once he began to cater to
the demands of the Wall Street interests
they forced him to it. 1t is estimated that
the present purchase will amount to $25,
600, 900, as the Treasury is paying 1871 for
bonds of 1925. This purchase when COM
pleted will bring the total amount Of
money released from the Treasury, in
Guiding the increased bank circulation
which Mr.. Shaw has made possible, up to
$62 10000 1t is claimed that this will
end the Secretary's efforts in this direc
ton and will relieve the money stringency
although it is hard to tell how long it will
remain relieved as long as the government.
by means of tariff out of all proportion
to its needs, continues to collect duties
far in excess of the possible disburse
ments.
AS stump speaker Mr.. Shaw will
doubtless prove diversion. if not an
amusement. 1t is reported that at a re-
cent pow WOW in Baltimore the Secretary
stopped abruptly in the midst OF his ha-
rangue and said 1.-The band will now play
that republican campaign song. the Star
Spanglcd Banner" The band did so and
the audience was treated to the spectacle
Of the Secretary Of the Treasury singing
in sadly cracked tenor, an j in a key sew
eral tones above the band, as became one
of his exalted station, the entire "republi.
can campaign song" When it became a
republican song was not stated. After
attempting to charm his audience with
music (?) the representative of the Cabinet
launched once more into the subject Of
reforming the financial system Of the
country but the general impression of his
audience was that he was more of a trou
badour than fiuancier.
| There is something refreshingly guile
less about Senator Spooner's recent as
sertion that the democrats were RESPONSE
BILE for the defeat of the Presidents Cuban
reciprocity policy. Apparently the Sena-
tor imagines that the people do not read
papers and never heard that the republ-
cans had ma jority of two to one in the
Senate or very nearly that, and that they
| rant cd larua al nritv i'm th,. ,uSt.