The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-06
was no blame to them and nothing to-

History of Struggle.
"In the face of this contradiction,
what are the facts9 We must go back
| little way. In 1S99-1900 the miners,
hitherto not compactly organized
fhere being only local unions), be-
came one organization, the miners in
the anthracite region calling them
selves the United Mine Workers. They
asked In an era of prosperity for an
| Increase of 10 per cent. 1t was grant
| ed, after strike, through representa-
| t1VeS OF the United Mine Workers. I
mention this because much is made by
the operators and railroads (they are
one) OF the right to decline conference
with what they call outside parties
| 1t was and is this insistance that the
operators would have nothing to do
| with the United Mine Workers, which
| is largely responsible for the strike
and it's maintenance to the present
| time.
1T was at any rate the first step in
! the controversy.
Its law for the settlement Of con-
| troversies is, first of all, we said, con-
ciliation. And that was the, first thing
| tried. President Mitchell wrote let
| ter to the mine operators and the rail-
roads asking for conference of repre-
sentatlveS from the union and oper-
ators to adjust the scale of wages for
the coming year and any other ques-
, tons of dispute. Just request for a
free, fair talk between employee and
employers, through their chosen rep
reSetatiVeS, that complaints on both
sides might, If possible, be adjusted
The kind Of conference that has so
often worked for the good of employer,
employees and the general public, as
| in the recent concilfatory adjustment
of difficulties by the millers of Minne-
apolis.
But No. said the operators; we
will have nothing to do with the Unit
ed Miners union. There is nothing to
arbitrate.' And they pointed to the
| notice which they had posted, which
read:
"'The rate of wages now in effect
will be continued to April 1, 1902, and
thereafter, subject to- sixty days no
tice. Local conditions will, as here
tofore, be adjusted with our employees
at the respective collferies.'
Il will allow another to word my
commentary on theSignificance of this
notice.
lmperiousness of Owners.
"Hear the great corporations, with
tremendous power, dealing with near
ly a quarter million people In a COM
modify vitality affecting the happiness
of scores of millions a0f other people,
deliberately declaring that, although
there was contract to be made be-
tween two parties,G they claimed the
prerogative of making that contract
themselves. True, they added that To-
cal conditions would be adjusted with
the employees at the respective COL
lieries. What did thatfmean :? 1t meant
simply that if the men in the local col
1ieries were not satisfied with what
they were getting, or their conditions,
however onerous, they could simply
get out. Even a half witted man
should be able to see that a single man
or a handful of men, with nothing but
their labor, to sell, are in no position
to make fair contract with great
corporations with millions of money at |
their back. The only hope for the
men to get fair contract was to ne
gotiate their labor together not as
individuals, but as united organiza-
ton.
"This organization had once been rec
ognized by the coal operators, but |
when their representatives attempted
to get a new conference with a view
to a new contract for the coming
year, the operators simply said:
Forced to Fight.
," No, we will not confer. We will |
post our own conditions You may
accept them or not, as you will.
Nov, I ask, what was there left for
the miners to do? If they were not to
settle down into unreasoning beasts of |
burden, what was there left for them
to do but make the fight, since con-
Citation was denied them? Another ,,
important fact which I would like to
have you remember is that there has
been no demand that nom union men |
be not employed.
There has been no real controversy |
on that point. Non union men were
l1<yr 10 IL
This is an important fact because it |
is alleged repeatedly that the oper-
ators are being true to their duty to
the free man who has a right |
to sell his labor in free mar
ket. The answer is, as already init
mated, that the market is no longer !
free, being controlled, 5as anyone may |
see, SO far as practical, affairs are con-
cerned, by what is in effect, if not in
form, a single trust. Will the man in
combinations of labor be any less free |
than the man ina combinations of cap |
ital, or what amounts to that?
ut is said, and perhaps, truly, that !
conditions in various mines differ and |
no general scale for all mines could |
be made. But is not this also sub |
ject for arbitration?
For it must be borne in mind that |
the demand of the miners for some
thing more than $500 a year of aver
age wage is not the most important |
consideration in the demand of the |
miners-although a little more does
not seem a very grasping demand.
Wages Are Inadequate.
''Bishop Fallows said that an examina-
tion of the books of the companies showed |
that the miners worked but 200 days in i
the year. They have to pay from $50 to
SIS a year for house rent SIS year for
powder, S.. a year for company doctor,
S. g year for OIL and are charged $3.50 a |
ton for the coal they burn.
He said that after making all deduc-
to feed and clothe himself and family.
He declared he never saw more orderly |
or temperate crowd of men, that not one
cent Of the money contributed was being |
expended by the strikers in Intoxicating |
liq !!SSrs ,no o;o,+ how. % l. ,o, - o,a
portant demands These are all subsid-
larry to the demand for justice at the
hands of an unprecedented tribunal. They
have asked for arbitration, and the rea
they are guilty of asking for it unitedly
instead of taking their chance, if chance
it may be called, in small groups or as
individuals.
"They have initiated the operators in all
but unreason, and 10 the operators are
vastly grieved as as,,.t the :. tiger might be
But says the special pleader for the
operators, the miners would best return
and the publicity of all the facts through
the newspapers, there is no possibility
that any coal operator could or would
resist demands which are founded upon
justice. The coal mines are all under
official inspection by. officers who sym
pathize. and properly SO, with the
miners In other words, am not now
quoting-the operators will know what is
best for you. Says writer in Gunton's
Magazine.
Would Silence Labor.
"Of course the corporations said thev