New-York tribune., 1903-03-22
TIE coal STRLKE REPORT.

"A sweeping victory for the miners" ex-
claims one commentator upon the report Of the
Presidents Commission on the Anthracite Coal
Strike "A bomb in labor circles" declares an
other with equal assurance. Both are wrong.
The report gives victory to one OF the parties
TO the controversy. But it is not the miners,
nor is II the operators. 1t is rather that third
party whose interests are paramount, though
too often overlooked by both the others and
their hot championship public. So far as the
two parties first named are concerned, each has
partly won and partly lost was TO be ex-
pccted. The public, whose demands were sim
ply that Justice TO all should prevail seems to
have won on every point
First of all, and paramount above all other
roin1s in the award the freedom of labor is
upheld and is 10 be maintained. That was, Of
course fhe fundamental issue In the strike; or
that and the adnate issue of the recognition Of
the miners union. All other questions Of
wages. hours and what not, were subsidiary TO
these and were so recognized; and could have
been settled in a day had it not been for these.
Were nOn-union men TO he permitted TO work
in the mines without molestation? Or was the
miners union 10 he made the dictator OF the
anthracite field, determining who should and
who should not work. and how the operators
should conduct their business? To these Ques-
tions the answer Of the commission is unmis-
taxable and emphatic. NO person shall be
refused employment, or in any way discrim-
''inated against. on account Of membership or
mon membership in any labor organization;
''and there shall be no discrimination against
''Or interference with any employe who is not
"a member OF any labor organization by mem
''bers Of such organization" That is to say
men shall be free TO sell their labor wherever
they can find purchaser for It. and no third
party shall say them nay. We have regarded
that principle from the outset absolutely
fundamental, and have assumed that the COM
mission would necessarily affirm it. Neverthe-
less. since 1t was so strenuously and impudentIy
denied during the strike and even In the pro-
Ceedings before the commission, it is fitting to
point out that the report of the commission
does reafirm il in the strongest manner. Those
independent workmen who have been reviled
as "scabs" and have been the object Of abuse.
outrage and murder are proclaimed to have
equal rights with any member of the miners
union That is the paramount purport Of the
commissions award, and II cannot be received
with too earnest approval or with TOO deep sat
isfaction.
The quotation which we have made from the
report also protects union men from adverse
discrinina ton by the operators. That also is
well 1t Is however, largely formal. The CON-
mission reports that there has been little OF
such discrimination, only & single case or
''bIacklistlng" by employers having been proved.
But discrimination against nonunion men by
unionfSts has been widespread and rampant
The history Of the strike lis stained with rec
"ord of riot and blOOdshed. eliminating in three
murders" Women and children were perse-
cuted and put in Jeopardy Of death. Boycott
ting, in which no actual violence was used, also
prevailed, and II is condemned By the commits
sion in terms scarcely less scathing than those
applied to riot and bloodshed. The question OF
recognition Of the miners union as party to
be dealt with by contract is plainly discussed
and unmiStakably answered against the pgaop