The Tupelo journal., 1903-02-20
THE HEARING AT LAST ENDED.
The Anthracite Coal Strike Commission
Will Now Betire to Deliberate
On the Verdict.

Philadelphia, Feb. 1.-THE anthra-
cite coal strike commission, after be-
ing in continuous session for more
| than three months, closed its open
hearings Friday with IN all-day argu-
ment by Clarence S. barrow, in be-
half of the miners. The commission
will meet in secret in Washington
next Thursday and begin the consid-
GRAFTON of it's award. 1t is expected
that by the end of this month the ar
bitrators will be ready to make their
announcement. If an increase in
wages is determined upon, the in
crease is to date from the first of last
November, the commission having de-
cided upon that date on October 81.
sion held a short conference with the
lawyers for the several sides, and
asked them to hold themselves in
readiness in case they are called upon
by the commission.
Great Crowd Hears Mr.. barrow.
The crowd that heard Mr.. barrow
speak Friday was fully as great as
that which listened to MI. Baer and
Mr.. barrow on Thursday. He took
up the entire time of both sessions,
five and one-half hours. He touched
upon almost every phase of the
strike, and when he closed he vas
greeted with long applause, which
Chairman Gray did not suppress.
President Mitchell was in court all
day, but did not have anything to say
to the commission in parting.
Mr.. barrow took up the ID evic-
tions on the Markle property, and
with language that was extremely
strong, he pictured the eviction of a
| sick wife and of a blind woman 100
years old.
You may roll together all the
cruelty and violence committed in the
anthracite region" he exclaimed,
land you can not equal the fiendish
cruelty of John Markle when he
turned these helpless people into the
street, simply to satisfy his hellish
hate"
Regarding the demand. for eight
hours a day, Mr.. barrow said: This
is not a demand to shirk work, as is
often claimed to be the case. 1t is a
demand for the right of the individ-
ual to have a better life, a fuller life,
a completer life; and this, like every
thing else, depends on your point of
view. There is only one standpoint
from which you have a right to ap-
proach this question, and that IS,
what will make the best man, the
best American, to build up a nation
where there will be no more strikes
and no more violence? Other gentle
men may measure it in dollars and
cents. / shall not"
In closing, he said: This contest
is one of the most important contests
that have marked the progress of hui
man liberty since the world began
one force pointing one way, another
force the other. Every advantage
that the human race has won has
been at fearful cost. Every contest
has been won by struggle. Some men
must die that others may live. 1t has
come to these miners to bear this
cross, not for themselves-but that
the human race may be lifted up to a
higher and broader plane than it has
ever known before"
Chairman Grny's Thanks.
After the long applause which was
accorded Mr.. barrow had subsidized,
Chairman Gray, on behalf of the COM
mission, said:
1T is due to counsel and to those
who represented both sides that l
should say that we leave you, or
rather you leave us, with a feeling on
our part of regret that the long asso-
citation which has been pleasant to us
is about to be broken. 1t speaks well
for counsel on both sides that no I'M
pleasant episode has occurred-noth-
ing that should MAJ the situation in
which reasonable men and citizens of
a great country find themselves in
mutually ~endeavoring to arrive at
just conclusions and a just verdict in
a great controversy. The work Is
now ours, and l know hat we have
your best wishes hat we may have a
safe and a righteous deliverance."
VATYIApT DAHD N6TCCYMH