The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-17
WHERE CREDIT LIES
wELLMAN SAYS PRESIDENT
 ENDED GREAT STRIKE.
J. P. Morgan is More of Peace maker Than He is Bluffer, and He Helped the
 Thing Along.

Writing to The Chicago Recard-Herald from Wilkesbarre, Pa., Walter Wellman gives some interesting information about the great coal strike.
 MT. Wellman says:
 To President Roosevelt belongs the credit of having brought an end to the deadlock. The moment he called a con- ference of railway presidents and the miners leaders at the White House. he set in motion the forces which led to a solution. Previous to this MT. Morgan had been hard at work trying tn secure | a settlement. He and his able partners, | Messrs, Bacon, Steele and Perkins, had done everything in their power to bring the railway managers to terms. That they did not succeed was because of the fact that various interests were concern ed in the corporations involved, and MT. Morgan. with all hls power, was far from being absolute dictator. His in- nuence was great. but 1t was not quite sufficient to force the surrender upon the terms which he wanted 1t. Of course 1t Is well understood by men who know the inside of financial matters in New York that if at any time Mir. Morgan had "got up on his hind legs" as the saying is if he had sailed in with might and main. determined to have peace If he had to fight for it, pushing ruthlessly aside every man who stood in his way, he could have had a surrender before now.
 But this Is not Mfr. Morgan's way of doing things. Though credited with be- ing something of bully in the financial field, he is nothing of the sort All his great successes have been achieved by getting men and interests together and inducing them to work in harmony. He | is essentially a peacemaker. His bank at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets | is known as the financial hospital. It IS | the place where financial fractures are mended levers are reduced, wars are stopped and troubled corporate institu- | tions are started on the road to recovery and prosperity.
 Mir. Morgan could not have put on his fighting clothes and sailed in to dic- tate peace in the coal fields without in- curing great risks of a quarrel among the large interests involved. If he had forced the situation too rapidly and dic- tatorially he would have failed to secure harmony of action, there would have been | a clash between the coal interests ana a settlement would have been made more difficult if not impossible. MT. Morgan preferred to have all act together. and the result justifies his judgment and his | methods.
 l When President Roosevelt called the
 White House conference he was really co-operating with Mir. Morgan. The Presi- dent could focus public pressure, could
 precipitate the chemical elements Of the | problem as no one else could do. when
 the President of the United States speaks 1t is with the voice of the people. and
 he must be needed. Naturally MT. Nor
 gan approved the Presidents appearance in the arena, even if he had not himself
 suggested it.. and as to this there is no | evidence at hand. The Presidents actiofl increased the pressure upon the railways | presidents a hundredfold. It vastly strengthened Mir. Morgan's hand. It pro-
 duced keen anxiety in the minds or pow
 erful men who had hitherto been indit-
 ferent-
 The real beginning of the end was
 Thursday of last week, when confer'
 ence between Messrs. Morgan and Gas
 sat- was held in the formers office. Fol
 week or two the indifference on MT Cassatt,s part to MT. Morgan's great , desire to settle the strike had threatened
 to cause a break in the relations of tho
 two men, MT. Cassatt's importance IT
 the coal strike situation was some time
 ago explained in these dispatches. AS the
 new master of Reading, as the man who
 could crack the whip and compel MT
 Baer to dance Mir. Cassatt's cooperation
 was vital.
 The moment Morgan and Cassatt came together and began to work in harmony the coal deadlock was doomed. It was on
 Thursday that this conjecture of the two financial stars was consummated, and the following morning I reported to the
 readers of The Record-Herald that the
 end of the strike was in sight. About this time Senators Platt and Quay and Gov ernor Odell jumped in, with well plan
 ned and we'll meant effort to achieve a
 settlement, which might have succeeded
 had it been more discreetly handled
 Their hope of success was not because
 of their influence, but because Morgan
 and Cassatt were moving, not because | they wanted a settlement, but because | the great financial leaders did want one | and intended to have 1t. Notwithstanding | the failure of the Senators and the Gov 1 ernor to secure immediate results, the
 end was in sight, and not far distant, as The Record-Herald readers were 'n-
 formed from New York last Friday night.
 President Roosevelt next came upon tho
 scene in the person of his most able and
 astute Secretary of War. Elihu Root. By this time Messrs. Morgan and Cassatt
 had nearly perfected their plans. When | Secretary Root appeared in New York
 and visited MT. Morgan on board the | yacht Corsair last Saturday the settle ment was only a question of method and l of time. How best to reach the end and
 save the faces of Baer and the other | railway Presidents was the question. Secretary Root drove home with MT. Morgan a realization of the dangers of
 the situation and outlined just what Pros ident Roosevelt would do if the strike
 should continue:
 Anarchy in the coal regions.
 Federal troops.
 | Martial law.
 Seizure and operation of the mines Dy the military power.
 1 Special session of Congress.
 | Special session of Pennsylvania Legis- | lature.
 This mo-nentous progl am made another
 club in the hands of MT. Morgan. It
 gave him another weapon with which to move the obstinate men who still stood out. And Mir. Morgan used 1t to the best | possible advantage.
 Secretary Root did more for Mir. Nor gan than to place In his hands this
 effective instrument for stirring the obdurate. He offered a method of
 settlement. none other than the one which was adoped as the major, though partly secret plan of the administration at Washington by the fa-
 nous Sunday conference at the White