New-York tribune., 1903-02-16
FEDERATION TO BAER.
REPLIES TO CHARGES
Sans He Gaze Erroneous DESCRIPTION
of Work of Committee

The officers Of the National Civic req
eration issued an official reply yesterday W
the remarks Of President Baer of the fhlla-
s5elphia and Reading Railway, in which ne
criticised the conciliation committee of the ieu-
GRAFTON for failure call a meeting TO near 'ne
final report of the sont committee which tried 70
avert the coal strike IL had been arranged 10
call this meeting TO hear the final report oeIo'e
the last meeting of the joint coml'l''ee ~
held The reply said in part:
Mr. Raer in a speech before the Coal s'fihe ne
Conn. .issioyl last week. made reference 70 ue ~.
psrt taken 10y the National Civic teoefduo" "
The effort to avert the threatened strike oL , oe
antrracite coal miners which reference gives
an erroneous description OF what loon pi'O' "
the time referred to- =, -. am,
.1littee of the National Civic Federation with t
matter from the time Of the Shanokln I.iro
tion. March Is "a the declaratlon iol - - ea1
at the Hazleton convention May l., was as 'oi-
lows: ;,,,
The shamokin convention voted suspeuSioi p,
of three dsvs A week. lake effect on Aprh l.
unless satisfactory arrangement for a wage
scale The coming year could he maoe 'n '"7
moan iimc. -, ~
operators had l,een refused. an appear was h,auS ~
hy the convention to ihe conciiation commute
Of the Nasieri.l Civic Federation tor us as
sistsnce "a securing such a couterehSe' ~ .s %
that the threatened strike might DC aNelteu- ~
The consultation committee secured Such d III ,
ference Presidents Raer Truesdale, GhonlaS dnu
Qlirllant representing the anthracite coal ROADS
reluctantly accepting the invitation to meet tnS
miners, and with the stipulation tnat lhe' "o"iu
meet them ss individuals only.
Tho meeting held Al the rooms "t ,he
National Civic Federation on March "a. ana a
fan and free discussion was entered INTO 10y
both sides. the chairman ana meinhers OF me
committee participating and making every e'-
fort tc avoid an open rupture whlch SeNtldI ~
times seemed Imminent Nc aSreene'' NaS
reached however. on the merits of the contro-
NerSr. hut the committee prevailed upon the
miners to postpone their strike for thirty days.
no tors -nni ing
request of the miners. not 80 mine more than
fhe normal amount Of coal.
Pending the thirty days tho chairman and
members Of the conciliation committee used
their Individual and united efforts 10 remove
the obstacles 10 satisfactory solution.
In accordance with the adjournment the sec
Dad meeting was held at the same place on April
"a tho same operators and officials OF the mime
workers beiEs present. and in ADDITION dele-
cation of twenty -four employees of collieTies
The discussion took up pretty much OF the Whofe
5ar several of the operators reading from
statements they had prepared and counter
statements were read by several OF the repre-
sentatives OF the coal miners A much better
feeling was manifested than at the first meet
ing. Yet neither ide consented 10 make any COLI COLI
cession. The second conference being on the
point of sdjourning without any tang1bie re
suits. il MAS proposed by Ihe concliiatloh cohl-
lnittee that committee of the coal miners meet
a committee of the operators and discuss the
matter further with the hope that by that time
p 'fare To face" conference would lead TO
satisfactory adjustment As none OF the CON
c,Iiarion commIttp. would De present al this last
result he made 70 the committee
This conference resulted the preceding ones.
no concession being made by either party AT
its close. which was on "Wednesday afternoon
Mr. Mitchell notified the secretary OF the fed,
Grafton that the conference had disagreed. anu
asked when the Cancellation committee could De
called together to hear the report. The ofnceTs
decided that il was useless to call the commit
tee together simply 10 receive such report ana
resolved 10 redouble its efforts. if possible to
aid the parties in coming to some more hope1ui
conclusion -
. night and a programme for definite work
= mapped out. in accordance with which TWO
members OF the committee called the next morn
ing CThursday) upon the operators ana urgeo
them to grant = per cent advance, the COM
uittee feeling confident that such a concession
would pe accepted. This pereniptoriy re
fused. the operators stating with emphasis that
they would make no concessions whatever; that
from their advces they were convinced that the
miners would not strike and that even If they
did the quicker this thing fought out the
better. From Thursday noon until Saturday
morning wheE Mr. Mitchell issued his call for
the miners executive committee to meet no
less than eight conferences were held with the
operators and the persons holding the controlling
interests IN the coal roads. The conciliation
committee had enlisted the active cooperation
Of many of the most influential in New
York and Philadelphia in the effort to secure
aven he slightest concession, but to all en-
treaties from whatever source. came the stereo-
Jvped answers: we VIII not concede a single
:lfing": No concession whatever" etc. 1t was
f'lain that any further effort along that line
would be simply useless.
fion committed but Mr. Mitchell did not agree
% that, he we'll the Civic Federation
aad already beer criticised by his people for
-greeing TO The first the miners alleging it
10 have been a trick OF the operators to gain
lime TO pile up coal
The cancellation committee then directed its
Efforts toward securing conservative action by
the miners.
The Hazleton convention called for May
- and an appeal WAS laid before Il by
President Mitchell; and its acceptance urged
y him in a vigorous speech:
As Is Wnl known the convention did not ac-
"ept President Mitchell's advice but decided to
strike.
the committee feels convinced that if the coal
ruad presidents had made the concessions in
March last which Mir. Baer offered last week in
ais closing address before the Anthracite Coal
Commission. or would have consented. as urged
hv our committee. TO leave the whole question
an impartial arbitration whether the aTbitra-
,ors were selected from the members of the
civic Federation in any other manner. the
terrible sufferings. loss of life and disturbance
II our commercial interests attendant upon this
most serious and embittered conflict in our in
7uStrial history would have been averted.