The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-06-18
WISE SUCKER;
The of

will do, becausanat on esdeiegateeh has yet
been elected. The anthracite delegates
will go into the convention with 142 900
striking hard coal nainersat their backs
Tor q general sstri4e. The West Virginia;
delegates VIII hive sroximatefy q, 0Ao
behind than forsa sysaiks and In Michigan
where the union HAS been having trouble:
the delegate also will be instructed Tor
a nationafs suspension. Central Pennsyl-
wanna Y will contribute a certain number;
Of delegates Ewhorwill want "a general
strika,. as also will Kentneky.sza TT res
mains Tor western PennsyNanfa, Ohio,
Illinois4and Indianas.to offsst4 this assit<i Is!
unofhcially understood thats@the miners
in these sections are not very enthusi-
Zastic for a general stoppageNof coal pro-
duction. s.@s- Is: s.. -
: Il. viii ssContracts'' he .Broken1
There. issea strong belief here that
President Mitchell has some plan to sub
NIT to the delegates and this belief is
strengthened by the fact that he delayed
the call SO; long. He had conference with
President Patrick Gilday ofathe Central
Pennsylvania bituminous district on Sun
day and has been in frequent eommunica-
ton with other soft coal leaders in the
west.
The great barrier to be overcome in the
campaign for aenational suspension Is the
yearly wage scale agreement that many
of the soft coal miners have with the
companies. These agreements are looked
upon as-contracts and a large percentage
of miners in the west are rather averse
to breaking them. The principal bone of
contention in the anthracite region is for
a yearly wage agreement, Those who are
opposedto a general strike use the argu-
ment that If the soft coal miners break
these contracts and go ON strike to help
the anthracite men they would be losing
in the west what the hard coal miners are
fighting for in the east.
Some of the national leaders who have
discussed the subject with the Associated
Press correspondent at strike headquarters
say that if the life of the organization was
In danger the convention would not hesi4
tate for a moment to call for q strike. IS
1t is admitted that the real object OF
the anthracite coal operators is to break
up the union in this part OF the country
at least. .s (! { fz NE a: ~
It is not improbable that the conserya-
tive men in the convention, will be able
to prevent q general suspension and carr,
through the convention some sort :5of a
compromise.
One plan that Is talked Of is to- have
only the central Pennsylvania land West
Virginia men help the anthracite work
ers, and another plan is to haveea the
soft coal miners work only certain mum.
| Der Of days each week. Failing to gair
anything by either of these two moves
lthen as "a. final card stop the production
4 altogether. All the coal that is now com.
ing east. is from central Pennsylvania
/ West Virginia and Maryland
1 "A delegation of Illinois leaders will be
here tomorrow IT is said they Come
merely to talk over a local difference II
Illinois. Il
The Indianapolis Convention
There will be about 1000 delegates II
Ethe indianapolis convention. Each loca
union will have one vote for each 1Ol
members or fraction OF that number and
an additional vote for each majority frac
ton. Ten delegates can be sent to thu
convention, yet the delegation may hav,
1 but one vote among them. National Sec
Rotary Wilson has already started to sent
out the call for the convention. The cal
lis sent direct to every local union ane
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