Milford chronicle., 1903-02-20

Lonu Applause.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb 14.-The anthra-
cite coal strike commission, after be-
ing III public session for more than
three months, closed its open hearings
yesterday with an all-day argument by
Clarence S. Darrow, in behalf of the
miners. The commission will meet in
secret in Washington next Thursday
and begin the consideration of its
award. 1t is expected that by the end
of this month the arbitrators will be
ready TO make their announcement.
If an increase in wages is determined
upon, the increase is to date from the
1st of last November, the commission
having decided upon that date on
October 81. After the session yester-
dav the commission held a short con
ference with the lawyers for the sew
eral sides and asked them to hold
themselves in readiness in case they
are called upon by the commission.
The crowd that heard Mr. Darrov
speak yesterday was fully as great as
that which listened to Mr. Baer and
Mr.. Darrow on Thursday. He took
up the entire time of both sessions
five and a half hours. He touched on
almost 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.
Yesterday Mr.. Darrow took up the
question of violence 'You can never
have a great strike excepting here
and there violence is done" he said.
"and so it was in the coal fields where
$50 1000 persons are living very close
to life" He said is was no wonder
after the operators had insolently and
cruelty rejected the requests of the
men. that there was not more violence
among this population. which was re-
duced TO a condition bordering on star
vation He paid a tribute to the for
eigners in the coal regions. whom he
said we're a warm-hearted, emotional,
sympathetic. religious people. 1t
comes with poor grace, he said, for the
operators to say that the Poles and
Slavs, whose labor the operators have
taken for years. could not speak Eng
lish. and therefore are not a response
Bile party with whom they could make
a contract He spoke of the strict ad-
herence of the operators to the dead
letter of the law and the moral law OF
humanity, and remarked that if leach
of the captains of industry would re-
spect their fellow man. the bitter war
Just ended would not have occurred
and those who lost their lives in that
struggle would be alive today"
Conflicts between capital and labor
will continue, he said, until these cap
tains of industry respect their fellow
men. It is idle. futile and useless to
talk of curing it IN any other way, he
said.
Mr.. Darrow then took up the 13 evic
tions on the Marlle 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 anthra
cite region" he exclaimed, "and you
cannot equal the fiendish cruelty oi
John Markle when he turned these
helpless people into the street simply
TO satisfy his hellish hate"
Turning to the boycott, Mr.. DarroN
said there was one illustrious example
at least. in the United States of the
IN, fI,p Ar,1o ori
can Revolution. "There is not one spe
cfic act that is charged to the mine
workers. he said, but what was charg
ed to the Loyalists whom we teach oul
children to love and venerate. "ToI
and may sit here and judge men b!
the dead letter of the law. We may sa!
that this act is right and that act i!
wrong. but up there sits the living God
and He Judges the acts of men by an
other standard than ours. Let me sa!
there is the legal side and the mora
Il side. The boycott is an ancien
weapon: it is respectable when th'
operators use it. but not respecabl'
when we use ii"
He told of the distinction between
the boycott that is criminal and tn
boycott that is within the law, ant
then spoke of the non-union men
whom he termed "scabs," although h
remarked he did not like the word
hut used it because it is conmonl.
used. These men, he said, have al
wavs been hated. Sometimes they ar
good men. often they act from neces
sitv. but they are traitors to thei
class. They are men. he continued
who are used by the capitalists to de
stroy the rights and aspirations an
homes Of the worllingmen.
"As a class" he said, "this body o
men. as they have in this case. hav
always been ready to take the benefit
that flow from organized labor an
never been willing to fight to obtain il
They nave never been ready to fac
starvation and hunger and abuse i
the common cause, and as a rule tn
scab is a man who has no abidin
1ao ~, tna fare Of thp earth. He