Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-02-21
STRIKE HEARING CLOSED
Commission Will Meet in Wash
ington to Consider Its Award.
Mr.. rARRow's CLOSING SPEECH
Strikers Attorney Touched Upon Al.
most Every Phase of Conflict. and
When He Closed Was Greeted With
Long Applause.

H1oSt GNcTy FndSe OF SOnniCI anu
When He Closed Was Greeted With
Long Applause.
Philadelphia, Feb. 1.-THE anthra-
cite coal strike commission, after be-
ing in public session for more than
three months, closed its open hearings
yesterday with an all-day argument by
Clarence S. barrow. 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
II an increase in wages Is determined
upon, the increase is to date from the
Lat of last November, the commission
having decided upon that date on
October 81. After the session yester-
day the commission held q 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.. Darrow
speak yesterday was fully as great as
that which listened to Mr.. Baer and
Mr.. barrow on Thursday. He took
up the entire time of both sessions
Eve 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.. barrow took UP the
question of violence. "You can never
have a great strike excepting here
and there violence Is DONE" he said,
"and so 1t was in the coal fields, where
100000 persons are living very close
to Nife." 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 condition bordering on star
walton. He paid a tribute to the for
lgners In the coal regions, whom he
o. re n warm-hearted, emotional,
Sympathetic, religious people. 1t
comes with poor grace. he said. for the
operators to say that the Poles and
Slsvs, whose labor the operators have
taken for years, could not speak Eng
lish. and therefore are not a response
bic party with whom they could make
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 IL leach
or 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 can
tains of industry respect their fellow
men. II is idle, futile and useless to
talk OF curing 1t IN any other way. he
said
Mr.. Darrow then took up the 10 evic-
tons on the Marxle property, and with
language that was extremely strong he
pictured the eviction OF a sick wife
and OF blind woman 100 years old.
You may roll together all the cruelty
and violence committed in the anthra,
cite region" he exclaimed. "and Won
cannot equal the fen iish cruelty of
John Markle when he turned these
helpless people into the street simply
TO satisfy his hellish hate"
Turning to the boycott, Mr.. barrow
said there was one illustrious example.
at least, in the United States of the
boycott, and that was in the Ameri-
can Revolution. There is not one spe-
nffn Of fhof &c no o.
work rs, he said, but what was charg-
ed to the Loyalists whom we teach our
children to love and venerate. "You
and may Sit here and Judge men by
the dead letter OF the law. We may say
that this act is right and that act is
wrong. but up there sits the living God,
AND He judges the acts Of men by an
other standard than ours Yet me say
there is the legal side and the moral
side: The boycott is An ancient
weapon; it Is respectable when the
opsIetors use it, but not respectable
whsn we use it"
he told of the distinction between
the boycott that is criminal and the
boycott that is within the law. and
EheQ spoke of the non-union men.
whom he termed "scabs," although he
remarked he did not like the word.
but used 1t because 1t is commonly
used. These men. he said, have al
ways been hated. Sometimes they are
good men, often they act from neces-
sity, but they are traitors to their
! clase. They are men, he continued,
who are used by the capitalists to de-
stroy the rights and aspirations and
hopes of the workingmen.
GAS a Glass;" he said, "this body OF
men, as they have in this case, have
always been ready to take the benefits
that flow from organized labor and
never been willing to fight to obtain it
They have never been ready to face
starvation and hunger and abuse IL
the common cause, and as a rule TIT
rscab is a man who has no abidin,
place on the face of the earth. He 4
a wandering tramp. ready to be use
by anybody who will pay the price t
ck e