The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-04-01
OTHERS ARE INTERESTED.

Should the threatened strike in the
coal regions of Pennsylvania occur,
the operators and net the miners will
have to submit to the burden Of pub
lie censure. The miners have shown
every desire to be fair and their re-
peated requests for a conference and
willingness to accept intervention by
the National Civic federation must be
accepted! as evidence of the sincerity
of the expressed wish to avoid a strike
if possible. AS to the merits of the
demands made by the. men for shorter
hours and increased pay, this newspa-
per is not prepared to give an opinion,
but from all that is to be learned and
Judging from the conditions that have
always existed in the mining regions
wherein the threatened trouble is i'm
pending, there is the probability of
the righteousness Of the demands. 1t
is a notorious fact that the coal min
ers' of the east, particularly Of Penn
sylvania, are among the hardest work.
ed and poorest paid Of any of the in
Vulnerable army of wage in
the country. An occupation so poorly
remunerated as to require not only
the heads of families who follow it to
toll necessarily but also makes 1t COM
pulsory for their wives and children
to lido it's slavish tasks certainly is
one, it would seem, that must give rise
to dissatisfaction and discomfort in
the minds of those whom fortune
forces into it's ranks.
If q strike is declared the country
might as we'll prepare itself for the
usual stories of suffering, restitution
and want among those who are engag-
ed in a battle for what they consider
their rights. But not only will those
Immediately interested in the strike
be compelled to suffer. Should a pro-
longed struggle follow many other
branches of industry will be made to
suffer. especially those dependent
upon anthracite coal for fuel, and
many thousands of men, other than
those directly engaged in coal mining
will be forcedI into idleness. A strike
of the magnitude which the n i'm
pending is capable Of assuming would
seriously affect the entire industrial
prosperity Of the country. Our system
Of industry has become so complex
and one branch is so dependent upon
the other that a serious disarrange
ment of one is bound to affect the
others. The time has passed when
one branch of industry was independ
ent of the others. All have been sc
adjusted, and that adjustment has
been so perfected, that the mass forms
a huge machine which depends upor
each individual part for the success
: of it's movements.
: The public has some right to BIZ
: heard in the question at issue between
the miners and the operators, for it IL
: not a matter simply involving the two
contending factions. The entire, in
: dustrial nation is interested. The
, argument of the operators that The
present business conditions are mimi
cal to the demands of the miners will
not be accepted as true upon the mere
assertion of those advancing it. Neve,
has the business of the country beer
Z so good and never has the prospec'
!; for the future appeared 30 bright a.
at present. With all other branches O.
) commerce and industry flourishing a!
l they have never flourishetd before
} and all other classes of employer:
: making voluntary advances in the
I wages of their employees, it would