The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-15
MINERS INCLINED
TO HESITATE
Continued From First Page.

| what they allege to be many flaws
Their greatest objection to it is that
| the operators dictate to the president
from what class of men he shall Sc
lect the arbitrator, and charge the
operators with lack of faith in the
president when they do not give him
free hand to pick the men he wants.
Another objection> to it is that the
president is limited to four men in
selecting the jurist on the commission.
Neither are they sure, they say, that
labor would be represented, because
the proposal does not specifically say
so, and add that they have no assur-
ance that a man of prominence, emf
nent as sociologist," would cover this
objection.
A great many of the strikers think
the proposition should be accepted, and
that the miners should trust to Presi-
| dent Roosevelt to do the best he can
under the conditions laid down by the
coal-road presidents. An argument
was made by one miner at the Hart
hotel today that Mr.. Mitchell could
not well afford to turn down the prop
osition after already offering to per-
nit the president to select the MEM
bers of the commission. He thought
the president would appreciate the
trust put in him and see that the
miners had fair play. Others in the
same class thought that not much
harm could be done by accepting the
proposition, but that in the end much
good will result.
Still Third View.
There is still third view held by
the miners, and that is to refuse to &C
cept the plan offered and make a
counter proposition, embodying some
of the suggestions contained in the op-
orators offer. One proposition sug-
| gested was that the operators, the
miners and the president each select
a number of men to act as a board.
This was mentioned to President
! Mitchell but he would make no COM
ment on it.
! Strike headquarters presented an
! animated scene all day and evening.
| The news of the operators proposal to
! arbitrate spread through the region
| quickly, and a crowd soon gathered
| and fingered around the hotel all day.
|. President Mitchell had many visitors
I who called to get the news. He, how
| gave out. no information. In the early
hours the. situation appeared mixed,
but toward noon reports came in from
| outlying districts to the effect that
many men looked unfaVorably upon
the operators proposition, which gave
an indication of what might be ex-
/ speeted.1 This was a -damper on the
| enthusiasm of the citizens generally,
I who thought they saw ray Of hope
for. the ending of the strike. AS an
| indication of how some of the men felt,
a local leader, who was among the
strikers in the outskirts of the city,
came into headquarters and quoted
| the men as saying that they would
rather do down to straight defeat
than surrender to the employers on
T the conditions they propose.
Little Movement in Coal.
The situation around the collierfes
! was. partially lost sight of because of
/ last nights Developments, but there
l. was no material change from that of
| yesterday. The arbitration talk acted
f;siss a check upon the movement of men
lsretufning to work and it is probable
i there VIII be no great movement in
this direction until some definite con-
| clusion is reached in the arbitration
The prospect for a coal supply to meet
the rapidly approaching cold weather
! is by no means bright. If the miners
should accept the arbitration plan of
| the operators it would take at least
7 two weeks before the details of send
| ing them back could be worked out.
AS the outlook for arbitration is
| there will be little more coal on the
| market for some time to come than
! there is at present.
+ Morgan Tried to End Strike.
| 1t developed here tonight that Ma
| than Strauss, of New York, with the
assistance of ]. P. Morgan, has been
| endeavoring for the past few days to
| end the strike. Mr.. Strauss was rep
resented here by A. L. Kinkead, SyI-
| vester Burns and w. L. Wilmer, of
| New York. Mr.. Strauss had received
| the assurance from Mr.. Morgan that
| If the men would return to work that
| he (Mr. Morgan) would see that jus
tice was done the miners, but he did
not care to have anything to do with
| the union. The proposition was laid
before Mr.. Mitchell, and he refused it
on the ground that he would not adj
wise the men to return to work on the
| hope that Mr.. Morgan would do some
| thing for them. The representatives of
| Mr.. Strauss received the final answer
today, and they gave out the informa-
| ton tonight.
The three district presidents, with
| Mr.. Mitchell, late tonight discussed
I the situation. They will take up the
| operators arbitration plan tomorrow.
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