Waterbury Democrat., 1903-02-12
Many People Were Anxious to
 Hear the Mine President.
PROMINENT WOMEN THERE.

~sAr~~s Mistaken Theories, Said Baer, Was
 the Cause of the Lawlessness in
 Mine Regions-He Says That Lead
 CTS Intended to Force Demands By
 Threatened Destruction of the
 Mines.
 Philadelphia, Feb 12.-With the ex- pectation of hearing George F. Baer, president of the Reading Go, make the closing argument against the demands of the miners, the largest crowd that has yet damned the United States cir cult court room was present when the coal strike commission opened it's ses- |ssion to-day. Many prominent men and women were among the throng which fought it's way into the hearing room. Ex-Congressman Wolverton, principal counsel for the Philadelphia X Reading Coal & Iron Go, who was making, his argument when the com mission adjourned yesterday finished it this morning. MT Wolvertou pre- sented an array of figures to show that the average earnings of the con tract miners of the Reading Go are higher than the average earnings of most of the skilled workmen of the state. He also opposed the demand for an eight-hour day because it would reduce the output of the mines and also would reduce the present wages of the men. Reverting to the wage question:, MT Wolverton said that if an increase of wages is decid- ed upon it should not be n horizontal one, but should be on a sliding scale basis.
 President Baer spoke as follows: In general, no one denies the right or man to organize for any lawful pur- pose, but the right to organize, and the power of the organization when organ lzed must still be governed and con- trolied by the general law of thGznnd under which our individual and prop erty rights are protected We con- cede to organized labor the sama rights Inat we claim for organized capital. Each must keep within the law. There cannot be one law for citizens and cor porations, and another for labor or ganizations.
 The lawlessness in the coal regions was the direct result of mistaken the ories as to the reports of the mine 1 workers. It will not do to say that rne leaders have not encouraged yio- ience and crime. 1t is true. no dodbt, that they did not advise it. They may at times have counselled against 1 1t and expressed regrets for it, never theless they are legally and morally responsible for the situation they ere dted, and from which this violence and crime necessarily resulted. Reso- luton No 8 of the Shamokin conven- ton approves the action of district convention No 1. which decided to in sist upon all who work i'll and around the mines to become members of the ! union and that they may be authorized to refuse to work with non-union men.
 s8The leaders intended to enforce their demands by the threatened de. struction of the mines. They well knew that if the pumping ceased the
 mines would be ydestroyed They thought the operators would yield rather than see the ruin of the mines. The operators did not yield. Every attempt to supply men to work the pumps was met by mobs. by pickets, and all the devices that labor organi- zations commonly use to prevent men from working.
 With the cessation of mining for five months and the destruction, for the time being of number of cofNer- ies, the public is now suffering for want of m adequate supply of fuel. Think what the result would have been had the efforts of the mine work CTS union to drown out all our collier ies been successful.
 Many good men have found fault with us for not making an agreement with the United Mine Workers of America. You will recall that the de- mand made upon us was for lIni- form scale of wages, covering the whole anthracite field. All of the op- orators were asked to meet in conven- ton with q view to adopting uni form scale. The conditions of em- ployment are not always the same. and, therefore, uniform scale of wages applicable to the whole United States would not be just
 We have made every effort to con- vince Mir Mitchell and his friends of the utter impracticability of his scheme. Our chief objection to his organization was that it was foreign organization, interested in rival and competitive business. We never could see the wisdom of permitting the bi- luminous coal miners to inject them selves into the anthracite mining sit uation. It has proved just as mis- chievious as we believed it would be.
 .'In addition to the fact that the mi ners' union was controlled by a hos tile interest we object to it because we cannot delegate to the r0sNers' un- ion. or any other labor union, the right to determine who shall be our employees The laws of Pennsylvania and the charter of the Philadelphia X Reading Coal x Iron Go, in express terms. give to the president and direc- tors the power of appointing all such officers, agents or employees as they may deem necessary. We have the right to employ any honest man with out discrimination as to religion, na- tionality, or membership in labor or