Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-14
STRIKE COMMISSION CLOSES
Last Word is Spoken and Arbitrstors Now
Have to Decide.
DARRoW PRESENTS ELOQUENT PLEA
scores MsrkIe's cruelty and wonders
al. starving Miners, Self Repres-
sion DurinE Long Struggle to
Uplift National Life.

PHILADELPHIA. Feb. lathe coal
strike commission, after being in c%ontinu-
Gus session for more than three months,
closed it's open hearings today.
| The commission will meet in secret in
Washington mex. Thursday and begin the
consideration Of it's award, and It is ex-
Iected that by the end Of the month the
decision viii be announced.
The crowd that greeted Mr.. Darrow when
he resumed his closing argument today
was fully as great as that which listened
to Mr. Baer yesterday. He took up the
entire time Of both sessions, five and one
half hours. He touched upon almost every
phase OF the strike, and when he closed
he WIS greeted with long applause, which
! Judge Gray did not suppress.
John Mitchell was in court all day. but
did not have anything to say to the COM
mission in parting.
Hind Spirit of Operators.
Mr.. barrow wasted no time in prelimi-
n%aries, and began his speech as soon as the
session was opened. He first discussed the
cause of the strike, placing the RESPONSE
bility for the coal anime on those who
were Responsible for the strike. II the
men struck without Just reason, they were
responsible. But IL they were right and
the operators not broad-minded enough to-
see the justine of their claims, then the
latter must take the blame.
He Believed the strike was due to the
blind; autocfntic, stupid spirit Of the OPP
erators." They believed the issue was who
should be the masters, the.operators or the
men. 81 say neither should be the master
of the other, " he declared with considera-
BILE emphasis. r
Mr.. Darrow proceeded at some length to
verify his assertion and quoted from the
testimony OF the late Ario Pardee, a coal
operator, before q congressional investiga-
ton twenty years ago, showing the alleged
blind spirit Of the operators a score Of
years back, when they refused to treat with
the organization of the men.
The same spirit. he said, existed today.
He briefly referred to the spirit shown by
John Markle in e~victing thirteen persons
for alleged criminal acts, and then took up
Mr.. Baer's sliding scale proposition made
yesterday. He said IL Mr.. Baer believed be
made a nice, fair proposition he proposed
to. show him he did nothing of the kind.
With the assistance OF the miners ex,
pert statistician. Mr.. barrow found the 1
Fer cent raise on 5 cents suggested by Mr..
Baer would give the operators an increase
of Sh per cent in profits and the miners
only IL on the $3.50 basis.
Cause of the Strike.
Revertlng to the cause of the strike,
he quoted from the replies of the OPP
orators last spring, when they refused to
treat with the organization. He said the
labor leaders hesitated to call a strike be-
cause they knew it meant distress and
suffering. He wanted the captains Of
industry" to know that il was better for
the men IN traat with than fhau havo En-
go to the petty feudal tyrants" who are
under them in authority for the purpose OF
getting justice.
1T would be better" he continued, "for
the industry md the country to have the
heads of the coal companies and the repre-
sentatives Of the men meet face to face
rather than have the individual workers go
to the under-boss. II the boss does not
like what the miner says he throws the
latter out"
Then he read the communication from Mr..
Mitchell before the strike, asking for arbi-
%tration, and declared arbitration is the
only means by which Industrial peace can
be maintained. Every appeal and every
prayer of the men was contemptuously re-
jected by the operators. No human being
could have done more than the organize
ton of the miners to prevent the civil
strife that was thrust upon the people OF
the country.
! spurned with Contempt.
"They spurned all our requests with con-
tempt. We will not treat with you, but
will post notices on our works, which
snail be your contract for the coming year,
they said. They forced the strike that they
might demonstrate to the men and to tn,
generations to, come that the owners Of
capital are the masters Of the yorkmen
They tried to crush the union which was
the first ray Of hope ant inspiration thaI
had entered the miners dark lives But a
, this late day, after months Of strife on tn,
part Of the men to meet their masters, tn,
operators come in with a proposition"
Mr.. Baer, Mr.. barrow continued, feared
his own combination more than he fearet
] the miners union, because his combination
! was rich and the miners poor. The peopi,
did not believe in such an absolute owner
l ship Of the richness Of the eartn as tina
which the anthracite coal combination pos
r sessed.
a 1.-THE time will come when the operators
o combination will be destroyed" he wen
Q on, mot by the miners union, but by tn,
" people, who will take possession Of tn,
= riches under the ground and relieve them
. selves of the tyranny of these men.
- 80 long as the laws OF the country d
! not Srevent Industrial wars and so lon
. as the masters Of capital want to tight, 6
: long will the workingmen of the countr
Tight"
; Wonder Miners Were Not violent.
|. Later on he again took up the questio
n Of violence and said It was a wonder, afte
.e the operators had insolently and cruell
q rejected the requests OF the men, that Their
X was not more violence among a populatio
n reduced to a condition bordering on starvs
ton.
He paid a tribute to the foreigners, who
lie he said were warm-hearted, emotiona
10 sympathetic. religious people. II cam
with poor grace, he thought. for the opel
ators to say that the Poles and Slav
y whose labor they had taken for years, couI
not speak English and therefore were M
= a responsible party with whom they coul
make a contract.
He spoke Of the strict adherence Of II
operators to the dead letter Of the lay
which be eontrasted with the moral law
humanity. Then he went on:
Conflicts between capital and labor wi
continue until these captains Of industI
respect their fellow men. 1t is idle, .tuti
and usaIaaa IN talk Of curing n In any nth