The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-05
HANDs OFF,
Let Coal Miners and Operators Have a
square Fight to a Finish.

To rur Enron or THF SUN-Sir' Sinco
the recent negotiations between coal opera.
tors and coal miners began It has been stated
very frequently that the latter hope for and
expect intervention by the President. Many
of their spokesnen have not hesitated, espp.
cially Of late, to acknowledge that they base
all hopes Of success upon this expected in.
Prevention, " as they will call II. Interference"
az most others term It
What would he the effect OF such action
by the President? His high Office would give
great weight to his request for arbitration
lie can exert a power, indirectly, PERHAPS.
which makes il difficult II not impossible for
the operators to refuse. There is a great
deal of money invested In coal mines. and
pressure can easily be brought against the Oh.
orators or those interested. In Wall Street.
II he should sug gest arbitration, the suR.
gestion may be said, l think, to be e0uiyalen,
to a command-or threat. II you prefer. let
two small schoolboys get into a scrap at re.
cess. The teacher may separate them for
the time, but they will never be satisfied until
they get out behind the coal house and have
II out to a finish. Once settled to their salts.
faction who Is master, all will 60 well there.
after. 1t Ia 80 here.
Let President Roosevelt ask the most in.
telligeDt men. business men. n%eutrals, in the
anthracite region, as to their opinion, and 10
per cent Of them will say that W shall never
have peace until this question ia also Tough,
state Of affairs in 1900. but WnfortuhataeIyy
the mistaken fears Of the national Repub-
lican leader. not q President, but n maker
wall Street. The general opinion IL that one
or two weeks more would have ended the
strike. and We should probably have had
In 1900 we certainly should not have had the
little affair Of 1909. millions of MONEY would
have beer saved, and much snNortnt. out.
vented, The boys got at it again in l0o2, One
wanted a larger share Of the, Others ample.
AZ Here = e 6aS RreslGeh' W maf feo H1s the nrS' r egnf'F2fPSS: r.:
boys had to shake hands and make M, while
the onlooker set EN- up" and paid the bin
the boys over to keep the peace for three
years. am not saving anything Of the
Justice or equity of demand or award The
latter was established by a wise and tust
commissi ion after investigating the conditions
carefully, and. was accepted and observed
faithfully by the operators It was honored
region knows. The fact remains that the
-boys" were separated, and again the uni;
versal opinion 10 that a couple OF weeks would
have solved the question OF master.
Twice they have been separated and have
s stFEsisfbs eRlsyd R shs teas sbbst',nfb ad as!' no OF f fSs7
are at It again, and it is to be hoped, in ii.
name Of peace, lasting pence, that they may
be allowed 10 nGDU III out.
or w otSer i tasy Mr.. ' sifGssfi s by " 5]S.TstsG
Shall I be satisfied because We obtained an
increase in 1902? No. II they We're 10 offer
me o rs per cent. increase this year, | should
ask a further increase next. year and year
after year" These are not the exact words,
perhaps, but are. the exact meaning, as hun
drcds understood them. Arbitration Is rarely
iust to both PARTIES. Generally the one who
stands, to gain something. Mr., Ryan ev.
pressed IL pretty aptlySto-day, IN the conven.
ton, when he said: Il don't believe in arbi.
tratinR anything unless I know ] am going 10
win" II the miners asked an increase and
the operators asked a decrease. arbitration
Suppose everybody keeps hands on except
women and children. no dynamitlng houses,
no guerrilla warfare. shooting from The bushes,
Just a fair test Of endurance, rs Il will be
what will be the result? Suppose the opera.
tors win: will II mean a reduction of wages
I think not. h operators are committed
to the present scale. and unless conditions
change materially, they dare neither, decrease
wages nor increase, the. price Of coal. ( the
miners win. twhat then? Then they will own
oligarchy as was never seen before; but u
any event. we shall not be much worse Of
than we are now.
Let them lght it out. There will never b
another 80 favorable opportunity. There Is
no Presidential election Imminent. One says
he has lots Of money. the, other says he has
Protect the public from disorder, and TT
prove a XIII emmy cat" affair we shall tJ
to disguise our grief. D.
HAzLEToS. Pa, March 81.