The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-10-07

DQYSICd1
they lured the pitiful wretches to Penn
sylvania with promises of Dig wages and
easy work and dumped them into the
mines to degrade American labor, lower
the scale of wages and break the power
Of the unions.
In America these brutes are learning
to walk upright, and slowly and pain
fully their minds begin to work. Inc
first clear idea they formulate is that
they have been deceived and used TO
bring down the pay of miners and IN
the primitive way of uncivilized man
they seek revenge. When the coal bar
ons told President Roosevelt that the
strikers were outlaws, anarchists and
riotous savages, they forgot that Labor
Commissioner Wright had told him that:
ut was little short of an outrage
that the operators lad attached TO
their payroll, on the piece basis, al
most twice as many men as they
needed, from among the swarms or
European immigrants. This redund-
ancy in the labor market was doubt
less intended to avert labor troubles,
but instead of that, by reducing the
annual income far below what it
might normally be, and by its inVi
tation to idleness, had nursed the
grievances. The low average of in
come, from this system, had also
brought in class of labor far infer
ior racially to that which had once
operated the mines; this had exhib-
tied it's native crudeness in the bru
tally and violence of the recent
weeks.
So much for that cut Of the two-edged
sword. The coal barons also threw a
boomerang They were eloquent in set
ting forth the ''illegality" OF the min
ers' organization and their own profound
reverence for the law. The Constitution
of the State Of Pennsylvania, Article
XVII, Section 5, says:
mo incorporated company doing
business of common carrier shall,
directly or indirectly, prosecute or
engage in mining or manufacturing
articles for transportation over its
works"
The Coal Trust is the Temple Iron
Company, which fixes the price of an
thracite coal, fixes the amount which
each mine shall produce and holds the
so-called independent operators abso-
lutely to it's schedules Of prices and
freight rates. The directors of the Tenn
pie Iron Company are: George G.. Baer
Eben B. Thomas, chairman Of the Cen
trail Railroad of New Jersey; f. d. IN
derwood, president Of the New York,
Lake Erie and Western; William II.
Truesdale, president of the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western; Alfred Wal"
ter, president of the Lehigh Valley; II.
NJ. ELEPHANT, president of the Delaware
and Hudson Canal Company; Thomas P.
Fowler, president OF the New York, On
tario and Western, and Irving A.
Stearns, president of the Delaware, Sus-
uuehanna and Schuylkili.
If there is an outlaw corporation on
the face Of the earth it is the Temple
Iron Company, the Anthracite Coal Trust
It's bonds and it's dividends are guaran-
teed by the railroad companies whose
presidents compose its directory and
management. And so the boomerang Of
illegality breaks the head of the thrower.
or John Mitchell's position not much
need be said to anyone capable of form
ing an opinion. The contrast between his
behavior as a guest of the President and
that of the men who irsulted and Will
fed him is obvious. The reasonableness
of his attitude is self-evident. What
more could be asked of him than he
cheerfully yielded? I'VE are confident
that our cause is just" he said, but we
will accept any award you may make,
Mr.. President, even If it is against our
claims
Mitchell waived the right of the min
ers to be represented on any board of
arbitration the President might appoint
He did not ask the coal barons to deal
with him. He offered to place the case
of the miners wholly in the hands of the
American people and abide by the decis-
ion The miners, through Mitchell and
their district presidents, surrendered
Internationally to President Roosevelt
as the representative of the public. Had
the coal barons been one-half as mind
full of their duties and obligations the
strike would have been ended at the con-
ference and within a week the miners
would have been back at work.
The operators offer TO arbitrate at each
colliery separately is hardly worth con-
sidering for a moment. 1t means moth
ing but an endless succession of minor
disputes and delays and substantial de-
NAL of justice 'Diviae and conquer" is
the essence of that scheme. The Trust
would split the miners organization in
to small detachments and beat them in
detail.
The President has not disclosed his
plans for dealing with the situation as it
now exists, but in all probability he will
first call upon the State of Pennsylvania
to undertake the legal adjustment of af-
fairs. Tt is believed generally that the
State has the power to compel the ccal
companies to work the mines or get out
of the way.
Should the State prove to be poWerless
or its government unwilling to handle
the situation and save the country from
a coal famine, the next appeal may be
made to Congress, in special session.
After that other methods may be consid-
cred. But whatever is to be done must
be done quickly. Cold weather is coming
and the people will have coal If they have
to take it wherever it is to be found,
under warrant of the unrepealable law
of necessity.
What Iredell Meares does for the Anti
rlarL crou1 in hic letter nubliShed to-