The Washington times., 1902-10-13

| GRAFTON OF LABOR, jams " SohhSii' pa S'i
dent of the International Machinsts
| Union, and Mrs. O'Connell; Frank Nor
| rison, secretary OF the American Fed
Grafton of Labor; John Hammerstrom
| president of the Central Labor Union.
A Pleasing Program.
| The meeting was in charge of a com
| mittee from the Central Labor Union
comprising r. H. Gown. chairman: N
e. Sprague. treasurer; John b. DICK
| man, H. B. Shugrue, H. w. Sherman
Milford Spohn. Charles Winslow, H. w
Baker. II could not be stated last
evening what the proceeds of the en-
| tertainment were, but it is believed
they will run over 5000.
The entertainment opened with an
overture. William Tell,' Rossini. by
Haley's Band. The musicians then
proceeded to complete their portion OF
the program as many of them had other
engagements. After an encore. Mr.
Haley gave selections from Carmen.
which were followed by series of ma
tfonal airs. ending with Yankee Doo-
de-"
Miss Sophie Burnham, clear voiced
soprano. sang "The Owl and the Moon, =
and ''Dreamland," after which musi-
cal comedy was given by Banks and
Winona Winter. George Yeoman anus
ed the audience with German Dialogue
and songs.
Mr.. Gompers, who was introduced by
Mr.. Sprague, OF the committee, said in
part:
Mr.. Gompers' Address.
II have very pleasant duty, mingled
with rather unpleasant duty, to per-
form this evening. The pleasant duty
Is that of thanking you for the demon
stration you have manifested in the in
terest of the striking miners in the an
thracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. 1
thank you for your sympathy for the
men, women, and children of the mining
region
The unpleasant part of my duty is to
tell you that owing to circumstances
over which he had no control that gal
liant leader of the miners in Pennsyl-
vania, John Mitchell, president of the
United Mine Workers of America Zap
plause], is unable to be here this even
ing. His duty tonight is with the miners
in the mining region, whose interests
have been committed to his care. be-
lieve that you would not want him to
leave his duties there to talk to you to-
night. l think you realize that he is
needed there tonight more than he is
here
I'm his stead have been asked to act
as a rather poor substitute.
Mr.. Gompers then spoke of the eight
miners who are touring the country in
the interest of the strikers. He said
that it was not until the strike had been
declared that the miners learned they
had voices. He said that with the soli-
tary confinement in which they are com
pelled to work they never find time to
use their voices in public
Speaking of the Presidents action in
calling the coal strike conference, Mr..
Gompers said:
Commends Presidents Action.
"All people regard the action of the
President of our country as move to
solve the question of the coal strike.
He invited representatives of both fac
tions to a Conference sort of mid
dleway by which this great contest could
be brought to close. The president of
peace, but he met with a rebuke from
the mine owners who attended the con-
ference.
And yet hundreds of thousands of
the strike and because the mine owners
will not listen to the terms of the
miners, but want an unconditional re-
turn of the miners to the mines. One
thing is sure, the suffering will rest
upon the heads of those who are re-
sponsible and who refuse to meet the
overtures of the miners.
81 want to say that 1t is not good
thing to starve people to win result.
History demonstrates that and our
country and civilization does not think
1t a good thing. [Applause.]
What the Miners Want.
Now what do the miners want? The
miners want their pay in cash. Zap
piause.l They want. also, at the end Of
every day, week or two weeks. OF some
other time, to receive their pay In
Uncle Sans money, SO that they may
buy what they want and pay what they
want for it, and not have to buy the
articles they absolutely need from the
company's stores and have to pay FROM
so to 10 per cent more than they would
outside.
"The miners have to stay under the
ground all day and work in solitary
confinement. except once or twice a day
when they see mule drawing a cart
of coal pass by on its way to the shaft.
THE companies have check weighmen,
who check off the amount of coal sent
up. The miners want a weighman for
them. They cannot tell, while working
below ground. If the company's check
weighman is weighing properly. They
do not want to mine $500 pounds of coal
to the ton. The miners are willing and
ready to pay the salary of these check
weighmen.
"All that the miners are asking would