Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1902-10-02
GLOOMY FORECAST.

bituminous coal mine operators of tht
country-a man whose name is 8
synonym for expert knowledge and con.
servatism among fnanciers, business
men and manufacturers along the entire
Atlantic Seaboard-the coal situation il
much worse than has been generally re.
presented He believes the day is COM
| ing when not even 800 will buy a ton
Of coal, either bitumin0us or anthracite,
and from his knowledge of the situation
he hints at revolution if relief does not
come through settlement of the anthra-
cite strike.
In speaking to Baltimore news
paper representative yesterday this coal
magnate said:
"At present the end of the strike in
the anthracite coal region has far-away
appearance. Tremendous issues are at
stake in this fierce fight. 1t is not a
simple,question of a few additional cents
on the ton of coal mined, nor of an hour
or two in the length of the miners
working day. The question is this:
Shall the miners organization triumph
or not?' Conclusions were not
reached hastily. Both sides weighed
the matter well for years before they
entered the arena. The companies
knew their losses would be not only
millions of money, but q destruction of
their business. The miners knew that
they must suffer and see their wives
and children grow hungry and naked
and cold before they could carry the ban
ner of their organization to victory. The
powerful corporations owning and oper-
ating the mines and the railroads say to
the men: "You may destroy our plants;
YOU may make our towns uninhabitable
by violence and bloodshed; you may
stop the wheels of industry; you may
makeit impossible for the rich man to heat
his palace or the poor man his home, or for
the poor starving child to warm itself by
our Goals, but we have carefully weighed
the concessions you demand, and in the
interest of our stockholders, no matter
what comes, your organization shall
never dictate to us the management of
this property You have already made
us lose untold millions, but our coal is
in the ground. We have all there is of
its kind in the world; it will never be of
less value than it is today, and not one
ton of it will ever come to the surface of
the earth under the dictatiOn of the
organization. The miners, on the
other hand, thoroughly organized, led
by Mitchell, backed by all the powerful
labor organizations of the United States,
claim that their grievances Of short
weights, company stores, the cost OF
living doubled, no corresponding in
crease of wages, no share in the marvel
GUS prosperity of the times, will never
gain hearing unless thundered forth
through the throat of their organization.
So the issues are made up, and for five
months operators and miners have faced
and defed each other. At times, when
the stomachs of the men get empty and
hunger harnesses them; when their faces
grow haggard, and their lines weaken,
the voice of Mitchell rings out clear
before the ranks of his men: "No time
to wayer now. Your brothers are behind
you; provisions, clothing and money are
coming! Believe me, men, if you lose
this fight the world will be CHASTITY
habitation for your children. There will
be organized capital, but no organized
labor. Ifyou falter you not only wreck
your own lives, but you will pull down
in ruin the labor organizations of the
world-the only organizations that ever
could in the history of our craft force
the master to listen to the grievances OF
the man." So the fight goes. There
never has been such terrible conflict
between master and man, and no one
can foretell the results. If outside in
fiuences are not sufficiently strong to
move the management of the companies
they are likely to stand until the crack
of doom. and the miners will stagger
along in the grim fight until organized
labor fails to feed them, which will not
be very soon.