The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-14

M say what every inteli-
gent person understands,
Vet IL may not be nmiss
Just now to emphasize that the hear
ing to begin in this city today before
the anthracite strike commission rep
rcsents labor upon whose outcome
the Weighticsi considerations depend
What are some of those considerations?
Let us understand them clearly from
che beginning.
The very leas; is the question of
hours of work and amount of wages.
This is u commercial issue, hinsing
upon merely mathematical factors.
livery man vino works for hire thinks
he ought to have more. In Il long ac
quaintanc" with men on pay rolls we
can to mind but one ccptiOn--Mariin
lavelle. our city clerk. Usually. too.
the man who pays does not agree with
the man who wants. This difference is
eternal and cannot be changed by any
commission, though ii rarely presents
serious obstacles to adjustment by con-
ference and compromise. If there were
nothing else before the anthracite
strike commission than To decide
whether the mine workers ought or
ought not to get an advance in wages,
we should recommend giving them the
benefit Of any doubts and letting the
sympathetic public pay more for its
coal. 1t might better pay more for
coal on a basis of peace than pay for
soldiers, deputies and the numerous
wastes ana eXtraNasances of industrial
war;
But underlying the mathematics of
the anthracite situation is Il fundamen-
tai issue of human liberty whose de-
termination, in time inevitable must
sooner or later test the vitality of
American government. The past three
years have witnessed in the hard coal
fields an organized attempt to unity
the wase-earning interests--in itself IL
legitimate and, when well-directcd IL
beneticent venture along the moderny
emphasized lines of co-operat ation ana
consolidation. But in the prosecution
of this attempt denial has been widely
made and enforced, by processes in
consistent with either liberty or equity,
OF the right Of individuals to choose be-
tween cooperation with organized labor
and personal independence For three
years this denial has been successfully
established Notwithstanding its con-
tlict with constitutional guarantees and
with the traditional spirit of American
institutions. No trust has ever pursued
more rcientlessly the small competitor
in business Than the anthracite labor
combine has sought to conquer or CO.
cree wage -earners not wishing to enroll
under its banner. The incidental conse-
quences OF this fight for mastery have
been wholesale boycotting. intimidation
and orerstepping of the bounds of good
citizenship, In place OF peace we have
had continual turmoil and tumult
IN brief, then, the big question be-
fore the commission is. Shall anarchy
or equity prevail in the coal fields?
While 1t is humiliatins to reflect that
the authorities of our government had
to step outside the law to find "A means
of determining this question, it is salts
factory to observe the many signs that
the members of the extraordinary ulb-
unal summoned into being by the i'm
perious eXiSen"es of AN intolerable sit
uatIon are wholly alive to the mag
nitude of lheir task and wholly dedicat-
ed to its thorough performance. They
undoubtedly realize that the effect of
their determination of this uuestion
VIII not be local to the coal fields but
must profoundly affect the future of
American society through its influence
upon similar tendencies in other places.