Arizona republican., 1903-02-13

Philadelphia, February 12.-Before an audience that filled every inch of space in the United States circuit court room, President George F. Bacr of the Read ing company made his closing argu- ment for the coal operators before the strike commission today and Clarence S. Darrow, chief counsel for the miners, also began the summing up fer the men. The two sessions were extreme ly interesting, and the principal speak CTS held the attention of the auditors throughout their remarks. The great est interest was manifested in MT. Baer's appearance before the commis- sion to plead the case Of the mine own CTS. Many prominent persons were present.
 MT. Baer concluded his address by making a proposition to pay the con
 tract miners on a sliding scale, their wages to fall or rise with the market price of coal at New York, but in no case should the wages fall below the present basis. The spokesman for the coal companies took up two hours and twenty minutes in delivering his ad dress. and when he sat down he was congratulated by hundreds of persons. Mir. Baer spoke of the necessity of capitalistic combination in the prosecu- tion of extensive enterprises and ac- knowledged the equal rights of organiz. ation by capital and la boz. He declar- ed, however, that both must keep WitE in the law and this he said the min CTS had not done. The miners organ iZatiOn, he said. was responsible fo: the ! lawlessness of the strikers whether the officers openly counseled il or not.
 He defended the operators for re- fusing to agree with the union upon uniform scale of wages on the ground that unequal conditions in different | parts of the country made such q thing impossible. He criticised the aims and methods of the Miners union.
 ! He said: ''To limit the right of work is to limit the production. It is not only a wrong to the individual but is violation of sound economic principles
 and, therefore, an injury to society
 The ultimate effect of restricting pro- | duction, so as to divide employment and an increase of wages must be to keep on dividing the wage fund as often as new men seek employment There must be a limit to an increase of wages, but there can be TO limit to the increase of workmen. The pro- cess must inevitably lead to the de- struction of the industry CT the re- duotion of the wages Of every man to 2 sum barely sufficient to sustain life.'
 Mir Baer gave comprehensive ac- count of the difficulties and expense en- tailed in the production of anthracite coal Concerning the wages he ex- pressed the belief that the evidence on
 the wage question justified the posi-
 tion of the operators that the wages now paid are fair, that they compare most favorably with the general wages Of the country, and that men will ing to work honestly and exert them ] selves do earn annually sums in excess Of the averag ge. Mir. Baer passed some rather severe criticisms on the action
 of the civic fedora ton in it's efforts to settle the strike. He pictured the
 members of the federation sitting around pulling good cigars
 MT. Darrow spoke at the afternoon
 session for two hours and half, and will take up all of tomorrow closing the
 miners' side The crowd that heard
 him was equally IS large as that that