The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-12-18

HE CASE in chief of the mine
workers as presented before
the strike commission makes
clear that the groundwork of
grievance has been the want of con-
fidence between the men and the i'm
mediate representatives of the compan-
les, the mine foremen or bosses. The tes-
timony, simmered down, resolves itself
into Just that. Conditions of mining in
the anthracite fields have been such
that it has been largely within the
power of the mine foreman to regulate
the earnings Of the mine worker, and
it is evident that in many cases he has
done this by prejudice or favoritism. 1t
is not easy to see how such a condition
of affairs can be overcome. The only
solution which will be permanently ef-
fectual will be the employment by the
companies Of higher grade Of fore
men on the average if they can get
them: men of broader sympathies and
better executive and administrative
qualities in addition to technical fit
ness. The companies can make some
headwaygip +.his directions by increasing
the pay of the foremen who show the
best results. not alone in reducing the
cost of production per ton, but equally
in cultivating fair and harmonious re-
latlons with the workers under them. In
regard to the latter point. the advisa
bility of establishing from company
headquarters Il better intelligence serv-
ice for the purpose of discovering what
is going on in the mines is worthy of
consideration. There is reason to be-
lieve that much of the information
which has reached the officials at the
top concerning the actual status of
things at the bottom has been to some
extent misinformaton colored in tram
sit
From the miners standpoint it is ap-
parent that a union is Il necessity to
safeguard against unjust diScrimina-
ton, and we think this has by this time
become also 5the public standpoint. 1t
ought also to be the companies stand
point, though neither public nor COM
panies are, yet satisfied that a union so
big and monopolstic as the one over
which Mr.. Mitchell presides is neces-
sary for the protection of the mine
workers or advantageous to the public.
That the miners have established their
contention before the public that they
have been ground down and underpaid
in the matter of wages will not, we
think, be the general opinion of those who
have followed the testimony in detail.
assuming that the statistics of the COM
Mt estc =
edly was at one time the prevailing
public opinion and that it was is due
directly to the inexplicable misjudg-
ment of the chiefs of the big
coal companies in not taking the Am
erican people into their confidence and
putting them in possession of the exact
facts. Wages should be higher in the
mines than they are, and may be higher
when the commission gets through with
its award. They might also be more
fairly distributed; that is, without in
territorial favoritism as between equally
efficient miners and with a more uni
form apportionment of work. But the
stigma which yellow journalism and
yellow labor oratory has sought to fas-
II place to be compared for injustice and
poverty with the convict mines of ST.
IBERIA, is removed by the offerings Of
the plaintiffs themselves, n very import
ant good result of the appointment of
the esent@commission.
While in the presentation of the min
ers case one or two blows We're struck
below the belt, upon the whole an ad-
1ifirable temper has characterized the
plaintiff principals and attorneys. In
the hearings To come it iss,hoped and
expected that an equallyfhmiable spirit
WILL prevail Indeed, the opening ad-
d!ess of Counsel Wolverton for the op-
eratorsa is IN this vein, 1t is salty with
Statistics ana pregnant with facts, but
it, is not unkind To this mutual re-
straint during the airing of matters
which might easily reldndle the flames
Of bIteffhelins the people, of the coal
fields and the country will largely be
Indebted for the now, Frightening pros
psct of 1t settlements likely really to
wind up in tranquility
a. - - r.
lBy this time President Castro ought
to- have ultimatums 40; burn.