Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-26
Recognition or Striker

Evidence Is at hand to verify the state
ment which was made in the course of the
series or articles recently printed In The
star on the prospect of coal strike next
spring mat the mine operators are deter
mined not to grant recognition to the
miners union as an organization. This
e'ioehce is contained in special dispatch
from W1ikes-Barre to the PHILADELPHIA
Pubic Ledger, printed today, as follows:
When committee appointed by the
employees of the National Colliery called on
General Superintendent Phillips of the
LackaWanna Company to settle some
grievances, he declined to confer with them
because they were accompanied by three
ofncers of the miners union He said tina t
II was the rule of the company to confer
only with employees. The officers of the
union then retired, and the superintendent
heard the grievances of the men. The
United Mine Workers are specializing as
10 the real meaning of Superintendent Phil
hps action. Many of them believe that the
stand he has taken will be followed by all
OF the big coal companies when President
Mitchell presents his demands next spring
for the recognition of the union"
The articles In The Star indicated clearly
that the mine operators believe that they
have gone already as far as they can af-
ford to go in the matter of the recognition
OF the union of miners. There is no diff
Guilty whatever in realizing the solidarity
OF the operators, for the hard coal mines
are now held in so large a proportion as
10 be virtually all inclusive, by certain rail-
road corporations. or coal-mining corpora
tons composed of the same individuals as
the railroad companies, operating under
other names. 1t is a commonly understood
fact that these operators. represented by
the heads of the coal-mining railroad COM
discuss the situation and to decide upon
poIcles II, therefore. the Lackawanna
Company has. through its general superin-
tendent, declined to receive Populations ac-
companied by officers of the miners union.
there is reason to believe that the action
was dictated by the hard-coal conference
and Is a forerunner Of similar courses at
other collieries
OF course a denial of the union now is
not exactly tantamount to a denial OF the
union next April. when the formal demands
must be answered. But in the light Of
this dispatch from Wilkes Barre it is easy
to anticipate the future in this respect and
to see the operators determinedly resisting
to the extent of permitting the miners to
strike, all demands for the formal recogni-
ton of the union, which would mean the
readjustment of all the relations between
the workers and the employers throughout
the hard-coal district.
The public Is not interested In the con-
troversy as to the righteousness of this de-
mand for recognition. 1t is vitality inter-
ested in the problem of fuel supply, and it
Is earnestly and anxiously watching all
signs that point to or away from a general
strike next spring. Its sympathies may be
drawn to one side or the other, but it cares
chiefly for its own welfare which Is seri-
ously threatened by the prospect of a Bit
ter struggle between the miners and oper-
ators over this principle of recognition.
The time will shortly be at hand for eff
fective missionary work, to avert this i'm
pending evil Public sentiment was aroused
to high pitch three years ago, and there
Is no foreteling what will result from an
other excitement of popular Indignation If
coal famine should be once more caused
by the failure of these two sides to agree
upon method Of procedure.