The sun., 1902-09-07
STORY OF The MARKLES.
now WITCHELL AND MS UNION
TREATED THEN.
Republication OF Promise 10 Arbitraie Dif.
Tcrences In the Strike OF 1000. Re
called by Nir. Hewitt, an Instance OF
IrrpspoilsIblii,y OF Labor ORGANIZATION.


SUS This morning. in which ho cites the
faCran' breach or Saith on the part Of the
riking miners in 1907 with tie firm Of G.
Z ,Iark!r & CO.. recalls viNidly the pudin-
ton made b. tho ate Father Phillips in
his speech 10 the Narhlr miners from the
steps of the Jeddo scho,lhouse on the 10th
Of Sep,cmber last The words of Nr
Hewitt bring ont with much force the fact
that the UtterarCes Il the clergyman on
that occasion were those Of a ,ru' prophet.
"Who hereafter" cried Father Phillips
with "A Passionate carnestness of entreaty
which all who heard him will long rcmem-
her. "whn hereafter viii have faith in an
agreement made hv body Of labOrera
if So plain and fair a contract rs that entered
into by the minors IN tho employ Of G.. B
narkle & Go - deliberately violated? So
far a. the anthracite region is concerned.
the failure of you men 20 abide by Your
agreement with the firm of G. B. Mlrklc
& 60. will PIT back the cause Of arbitration
in tho settlement Of labor troubles by
twenty years Your failure to abide by
that agreement will be- such blow to the
arbitration principle as never was struck
before"
And yet the Markle miners deliberately did
violate Their agreement, and now the truth
Of the priests words Of warning is coming
home To them, Their faith"ssness 10
their solemn pledges i cited, in one Of tho
strongest documents on the merits Of the
present strike which has appeared, as an
overwhelming argument as TO tho fptility
Of arbitration and as 30 the worthlossress =
of the most solemn agreements made bv
organizations without cooperate RESPONSE
bilty
Of the men in the employ Of G. b. Markle
4 Co in 1900. many, probably the great
ma iorty, broke with r grct the agree
mcnt under which for fifteen years they
had worked in entire harmony with their
employers Those who were not led
away by Misrepresentation and even
deliberate falsehoods on the part Of
the labor leaders were terrori2cd and
fairly dragooned into quitting work and
dishonoring their pledged word And Mr..
John Mitchell, personally, was the chief
exhcrter in the crusade to make the Markle
men scatter their promises 10 the wind.
The very meeting at which Father Phil
lips spoke the prophetic words above quoted
was one which Mr.. Mitchell endeavored
10 stampede 1t was one which Mr.. John
Markle. the managing partner Of the firm,
had called The labor agitators, most Of
whom for years had not known what
labor was and who, on the rare occasions
when they did work were found incompe-
tent, had been buzz,ng like bees among the
Markle men, telling them that their arbitra-
ton agreement was worthless, that the
firm would never abide by il and that
their only salvation was to break their
word and join the union Of which John
Mitchell is the head
To refu,e these fslsehoods for once and
for all, Mr. Markle called this meeting
at the Jeddo schoolhouse. Mitchell, Of
course. heard Of it, He was there ha-
ranguing crowd of over one thousand
miners when Mr. Markle and Father Phil
lips arrived. He had his say uninterrupted
to the end, BY every art OF persuasion
at his command he urged he men to violate
their pledge that they would submit TO
arbitra ION their differences with their en-
ployers, TO break their soemnly plghted
word and quit work until the mine work.
ers union told them they might resume.
il they doubted the firms good faith. TO
put il TO the test, to submit their griev-
ances TO arbitration under the old plain
and fair agreement to that end which had
operated so successfully and had made
industrial peace between the firm and it's
employees FOR fifteen years. After Mr.,
~lS--,sl--SI..sS ia ..G phill Is made
his earnest plea and sounded his note Of
prophetic warning.
But il was all in vain. There was the
plain agreement in writing signed indi-
vidually by every miner in the Markle en-
ploy, and, IN case hc could not write his
name, by his mark, made In the presence
ally by Mr.. Mitchell himself. and under
the intimidation and threats and perse-
cutions Of memhers Of Mr.. Mitchelrs
organization the Markle miners deliber-
ately repudiated their pledge and re-
fused TO submit 10 a board of arbitration
the grievances which they alleged were
the cause OF their quitting work,
Hera il the agreement itsclf to which all
the miners had put their signatures or
their marks:
believing that arbitration is the proper
method Of settling OIL differences between
employers and employees, we agree that
under no consideration will We enter into
n strike Any differences we may have with
our employers are to be settled by arbitration,
viz. by, onr thonstng 2 competent man and
those two lnen cannot agree. these two must
choose a third. and their decision, or the
decision of "A ma jorty OF Them TO be binding
II is further agreed that We will not be gov
erned by any labor organization in settling
any difficulties while In the employment OF
q B Markle Co,
This agreement was made in 1885 and
had been lived up TO by both parties to the
contract until. in 1900, through the personal
influence Of Mr.. Mitchell and the labor
agitators under him, ii was repudiated by
the men themselves. as above related.
The harmony which had SO long existed
between the Markles and their employees
had resulted in many things calculated to
improve the miners conditions. The
miners earned good wages, had good homes.
their children werc well dressed and went
10 excellent schools. Mrs. John Markle
provided a corps of trained nurses for the
exclusive benefit of the miners and their
families in the event of sickness. nurses
who reported for duty at the company's
office as regularly every morning az the
clerks, receiving information there OF
homes where their services were needed
and doing their duty in those homes con-
scientiously and skilfully, for they were
the best Of nurses.
For all this the miners paid nothing
II they chose to have IS cents a month de-
Quoted from their wages they and their
families received medical attendance 6s
well without further cost And this wac
entirely optional.
In addition to this. Mr.. John Markle
built clubhouses here and there and stocked
them with libraries. newspapers and perioGi-
Gals. The men formed their own clubs
and ran them in their own way. Mr..
Marklc built and equipped the houses