The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-04-05
THE MINERS STRIKE.

The efforts of the miners and the ope-
rators to reach an agreement were pro-
longed and apparently sincere. The
operators refused, except in a few
cases, to yield to the demands of the
miners and the miners in no cases
modified their demands.
At the same time, this strike situa-
ton does not seem to be so threaten
ing and serious as the wide difference
between the miners and the operators
and the large number of men involved
might indicate. The fact that some of
the operators have agreed to pay the
scale demanded by the miners shows
that the operators are not standing SOL
idly together, while the fact that ap-
proximately 10000 miners affected are
not organized, suggests that the miners
may not be able to control the output
sufficiently to win their strike. Perhaps
it is for these reasons that the indus
trial world does not seem to have
viewed the approaching clash between
mines of the country with as much ap-
prehension as would naturally be felt
if there were a graver prospect for a
prolonged contest.
Another fact which probably influ-
ences the public feeling in the matter
is the well-known disposition Of the
president to use the powers of his great
office for the protection of the public
interest. The public has not forgotten
the intervention of the president in the
anthracite strike and the great service
which he rendered to the country in
that connection, and looks to him for
protection against serious harm from
the strike. He has not, in the pres
ent instance, exhibited any disposition
to intervene. Apparently he does not
think the time has arrived for any &C
ton on his part. But the exceedingly
interesting statement published by the
Washington correspondent Of the Chi
cago Tribune explains in some degree
the feeling that somehow the dispute
between the miners and their employees
will not lead to serious harm to the
general public. That statement was to
the effect that if the miners and their
,y1n in, hn oif fol1 hoI
not agreed, when they quarreled four
years ago, to accept the verdict of his
proposed commission, the president was
ready to take charge of the anthracite
mines with the army of the United
States, put General Schofield in COM
mand employ as many men as required
pay them reasonable wages, mine the
coal, sell it and turn over the pro-
ceeds to the owners of the mines-on
the principle that such a course was
necessary to furnish the public neces-
sity of life, which nature has provided
but which private parties have seized
control of and are not supplying to the
public because of a quarrel among
themselves
The occasion for such action may
come. 1t would be an unprecedented
exercise of the executive authority, and
yet we do not believe it would be one
which would meet with popular disfa-
vor. In certain quarters, Of course, it
would be condemned. 1t would even be
denounced as revolutionary but it
would protect the public from loss and
suffering and to the extent, at least
that the output of the mines was ne
cessary for the use of the government
especially in the supplying of it's navy
the distribution of the mails, ETC., such
action could not be called in question.