BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-10-30
SAfljUAN, OCTOBER 80
The Coal Lesson.

The personal of the Commission of
Arbitration appointed by the President,
as well as the circumstances which ne
cessitated its selection, give good ground
for the expectation that permanent re-
forms in the conduct IF the coal
mines will come to pass as the re-
suit of the battle in Pennsylvania. Ger
tainly the mental and physical suffering
of the people demands removal of the
conditions which led up to the strike, in
order to prevent a recurrence of such a
social upset, as far as it may be posi-
BILE. 1t is particularly the opportunity
of the operators to set their houses in
order, to correct obvious abuses, and
to so manage their business that if they
shou d have to face a similar crisis they
may have full claim to public support.
The most loyal and ardent supporters
of the operators for the past months
could hardly assert that their case has
been we'll conducted. From the begin
ming they wee most unfortunate in
their spokesman. President Baers pious
cant about the divine right of himself
and his y-presidents disgusted
thousands of men who see in labor
demagogues one of the greatest dan
gers this country has to confront. But
more than this, it has seemed almost as
if they had deliberately undertaken TO
make themselves ridiculous before the
people by their pubic utterances. Their
insistence that this strike was one which
concerned them alone, and that the pub.
lie had no right to an interest in it, was
a doctrine which they advance early
in the conflict and chung to pertina-
ciously, until the growing danger of a
coal famine and the rising tide of pop
ular indignation made them adopt diff
terent tone. SO thoroughly indeed, did
they finally become convinced that the
nation was third party in the con-
f1ict, that by their own statements they
were finally compelled to yield to it.
No more cruel punishment could be
inflicted upon the operators now than
to reprint the long list of foolish
prophecies and of utterly mistaken
statements which have come from
their lips during these last five months.
Even their demand for more troops as
the one thing necessary -to-enu the
IA
mistaken. Had the operators not made
their appeal for commission, and still
more troops been sent in it is altogether
likely that the strikers could have held
out for montns to come, or at least
could have kept the output of coal
down to the minimum. All this is, of
course, quite aside from the just and
vital demand of the operators and OF
all reflective men that the right OF a
non-union man to wosk, and to work
unhar-ned, be upheld at all hazards.
Allowing for all the strong points on
their side, it is none the less tr.e that
their whole case has been mismanaged
in a way that might easily lead indig-
nant stockholders 10 demand new men
and a new policy in the future mana
cement of the coal roads.
1t was the great mistake of the epe-
rators to have been responsible for The
overstocking of the labor market, as
consequence of which I47,ooo men of
eighteen or nineteen natlonalities are
strivingin the market at the present day
and this evil has characterized the indus
try" DR.. Roberts declares in his book,
"The Anthracite Coal Industry. Prac.
tical business men who have followed
the management of the mines do not
hesitate to declare that this question of
surplus labor is at the root OF this strike
and the previous ones. Mr.. Roberts
estimates that 5000 men could be dis
penSed with even when the market de-
mand is at its maximum, and there is
no reason why coal cannot be stored at
trivial cost during the months when
the demand is at its minimum. Can any
one doubt that fewer men working full
time will be happier and more content
ed than many men employed half or
two thirds tlme7
1t is just here that the operators have
their opportunity. If they will put
their industry on basis like that of
their railroads, where they would never
dream of employing $4,000 operatives
to do the work of $4,000, they will have
t AIKEN long step towards permanent
peace. This move alone would far out
weigh any decision unfavorable to them
which the Arhi ration Commission may
hit upon. Neither John Mitchell nor
any other labor leader could hold out
for a moment against proposition en-
suring steady employment for 100 1000
miners as against half employment for
l47,ooo. Mr. Mitchell himself has point
ed the way by shifting thousands of
miners to other coal fields since the
beginning Of this strike.
Moreover, the placing of the antbra-
cite industry on business-like basis
as respeess the number of men employ
ed should operate to the benefit of the