Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-12
CREATPROBLEN OF The HOUR
Bishop spalding Discusses tbs Wastefu
Wars Of Labor and Capital
WHAT is NEEDED TO EMO THEM
Urges Compulsory InvestiEatiOn of the
Affairs OF Great Corporations and
of Trade U~nions-Need of
n New Heart.

John Lancaster Spalding. the distin-
guished bishop OF Peoria, ILL.,, a member
Of the Anthracite Coal Strike commission,
contributes TO the Chicago Tribune, in the
form Of an interview, a review OF the
problems Of labor and capital brought
home TO the people by the Industrial war
which the bishop helped to bring to a
satisfactory conclusion.
Looking back upon the work Of the An
thracite Coal Strike commission, II is the
mission. even with the expenditure OF hVe
months time and perhaps 100000, &C
complished that which the United States
government, with 100, 900 troops, could not
have done in years.
"It could have maintained peace, per-
haps," said Bishop Spalding. 1T could
have protected nonunion workmen in their
work, provided these nonunion men might
have been found to work the mines. But
where would they have come from? There
was no yielding in the positions OF the
Italians and Slavs in that mining district;
physically they we're of a class not TO
suffer greatly II forced to live on "a or s.
a month, and in this strike sentiment there
was the fervor almost Of religion.
Importance of strike Commission.
Viewed from the point of cost, the find
ing OF the commission was reached at com
paratively small outlay. Look at the mil
lions already lost in the strike and at the
suffering caused through that whole region
ana wnen IL is considered that the condi-
tions that existed there were impossible oil
classification, that even with the indi-
viduals in an individual mine broad dis
tinctions had ODE made in weighing grieV-
ances, 1t may we'll be granted that not In
another industry in America could there
be a situation so full Of complications.
Suppose, in comparison. there should bt
a strike Of all the steel workers in the
United States, and that the strike should
be continued as was the coal strike. There
would be panic throughout the whole coun'
try, but any commission which might have
to deal with the points in dispute would b.
able speedily to classify men and conditions
and 10 make general application of them.
I'm the anthracite coal fields almost ever!
man was a condition unto himself, perhaps
not to be compared with the situation Of
man working in the same mine not a hun
dred feet away.
I'm general, there we're exaggerations o
conditions in the anthracite regions. Herr
and there we're wretchedness and squalor
but they we're not worse than may be fount
in Chicago; nor worse than individual in
stances here in Peoria. Overproduction hat
been the bane of operator and OF miner II
the whole region. 1t was not that a maj
might not earn enough to support him
working every day; It was that there wer'
not enough working days.
No Anarchy During the Strike.
There was no anarchy anywhere in tn
regions. There was no mob violence tina
could not expend itself in the burning o
efigies. Hatreds and bitternesses we're no
in evidence. At bottom the trouble wa
based in the union of the United Min
Workers of America, through which the an
thracite workers we're asking remedy. Thi
union largely was composed of bituminou
miners, working under conditions not ap
plicable to the miners in the anthracit
fields, and recognition was asked of the an
thracite operators through a union OF me-
virtually in competition with the anthracit
interests.
Here again was the result OF competi
tion-a trade rivalry admitting OF no sepa
ration of the interests involved. There 1
no doubt that the operators in the anthra
cite fields thought they were paying enoug
to the miners. No doubt the operator
thought the miners dare not strike-tha
they could not afford to strike. But ono
the strike was on and recognition demande
through a union Of satisfied bituminou
coal miners whose production of coal wa