The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-14
STRIKE INQUIRY
Is AT AN END
Commission Closes Sessions to
Consider Evidence in Secret.
BARROW FINISHES ARGUMENT
STIRRING ARRANGEMENT OF
OPERATORS.

Philadelphia, Pa, Feb. 13.-Ihe an
thracite coal strike commission, after
being in continuous session for more
than three months, closed its open
hearings today with an all-day argu-
ment by Clarence S. Darrow in behalf
of the miners. The commission will
meet in secret in Washington next
Thursday and begin the consideration
of the award. 1t is known that by the
end OF this month the arbitrator will
be ready to make their announcement
If an increase in wages is determined
upon, the increase is to date from the
list of November, the commission hav-
ing decided upon that date Oct. 81.
During the session today the commits
sion held short conference with the
lawyers on the several sides and asked
them to hold themselves in readiness
IN case they are called upon by the
commission.
The crowd that heard Mr. barrow
speak today was fully as great as that
which listened to Mr. Baer and Mr..
barrow yesterday. He took UP the
entire time of both sessions five and
one-half hours. He touched upon al
most every phase of the strike, and
when he closed he was 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.
Blind, Autocratic, Stupid.
Mr.. Darrow first discussed the cause
OF the strike. The responsibility for
the coal famine, he said, rested with
those who were responsible for the
strike. If the men struck without Just
reason, then they were responsible; but
if the men were right and the operators
not broad minded enough to see the
business of their claims, then the lat
ter were responsible for the trouble. He
believed the strike was due to the
blind, autocratic, stupid spirit of the
operators"
mo human being could have done
more than the organization of the
miners he said, Ito prevent the civil
strife that was thrust upon the people
of the country. They spurned all our
requests with contempt. They forced
the strike that they might demonstrate
TO the men and to the generations to
come that the owners of capital are the
masters of the workmen. They tried
TO crush the union, which was the first
ray of hope and inspiration that has
entered their dark lives"
Explains Violent Acts.
Mr.. barrow then launched into de-
Tense for the men who committed
crime under passion, and said the con-
duct Of the men was due to their con-
dition and environments. He said the
fact the operators called the men
criminals. cut-thrOats and assassins'
was enough to eXasperate them.
"A great strike can never exist but
here and there violence is done" he
said, and so it was in the coal fields,
where 10000 people are living very
close to life" He said it was a Won
der, after the operators had insolently
and cruelty rejected the requests of the
men that there was no more violence
among the population, reduced to a
condition bordering on Starvation.
he paid tribute to the foreigners in
the coal regions, who, he said, were
warm hearted, emotional, sympathetic,
religious people. 1T comes with poor
grace he said, for the operators to
say that the Poles and the Slavs, whose
Ia Dor the presidents have taken for
years, could not speak English, and
therefore are not a responsible party
with whom they could make a con-
tract" He spoke of the strict adher-
ence Of the operators to the dead let
ter of the law and the moral law of
humanity and remarked that IF our
captains of industry would respect
their fellow-man, the bitter war just
ended would not have occurred, and
those who lost their lives in thai strug- !
gle would be alive today
Conflicts Will Recur.
Conflicts between capital and labor /
will continue, he said, until these cap |
tains of industry respect their fellow |
men. Ii is idle, futile and useless 20 /
talk Of curing it in any other way, he |
said.
Mr.. Darrow then pictured the evic- |
ton of a sick wife and of a blind !
woman 100 years old.
You may roll together all the cruel |
ty and violence committed in the an |
thracite region" he exclaimed, "and !
You cannot equal the fiendish cruelty |
of John Markle when he turned these |
helpless people into the street simply !
to satisfy his Nhellish hate
Brigadier General Goblin, who COM
manded one brigade of the state troops |
in the field during the strike, came IN |
for severe criticism from the miners
counsel.
He told of the distinction between /
the boycott that is criminal and the !
boycott that is within the law. He then |
spoke Of the non-union men, whom he |
termed "scabs." although he remarked |
that he did not like the word, but used /
it as it was commonly used.
Scabs Are Traitors.
These men, he said, have always been
hated. Sometimes they are good men.
often they act from necessity, but they
are traitors to their class. They are
men, he continued, who are used by