The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1906-04-11
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
AND BITUMlNOUS
SHAFTS CLOSED.
Pits East and West Are Deserted
Regular Troops May Guard Prop
ertfes--Operators Build stockndes
and Riots May Be Expected.

A half million Of the members of the
United Mine Workers of America have
ceased work, awaiting the granting Of
their wage demands by the coal opera
tors of the country. 1t is anticipated
that few operators In the southwestern
district, composed of Missouri, Kansas.
Arkansas, Texas, Indian Territory, and
Oklahoma, will grant the scale for the
present and prolonged strike may
follow. In Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
the same condition is anticipated.
That there is to be war in the an
thracite coal regions of Pennsylvania
is indicated by the active and thorough
preparation of the operators for des-
perate struggle. Besides a small army
of private well-armed guards, who have
been secured within the last three
months In anticipation of strike, sew
eral troops of mounted state constabu-
larry have already been called into SER
vice at various mines.
AS a result of demands of the mine
owners, the whole force Of Pennsylva-
MAS State militia. numbering 10000
men, has been ordered to be ready for
service at an hours notice. All this
military activity, argue leaders of the
miners, indicates that the hard coal
operators are preparing for a supreme
contest in which they confidently eX
pect to smash the union, knock out the
closed shop, and become once more alb
solute dictators as to wages and work
ing conditions.
Bitter Struggle Expected.
Although less than half of the an
thracite miners are members of the UNI
ion, the most of them having dropped
out through nonpayment of dues, fully
95 per cent of the men will be in the
great labor army when the war opens,
ready to fight for the principles of un.
ionism. There will be arrayed against
the anthracite employers in this strug.
gle fully $4,000 men. The State mill.
tia, it is believed by many, will be insult,
ficent to control the situation If rioting
begins, and national troops will be call
ed in to aid them. For several months
agents of the coal-producing railroads
have been employing men ostensibly TO
serve as laborers and private watch
men at the mines. Stockades have been
erected where none was required in
1900 or 1902, and miles of barbed wire
fencing have been shipped into the an
thracite region during the last week.
Riot and bloodshed will follow any at
tempt to operate the mines during n
strike 1t was attempted in a small
way in 1900, after the great majority
of all the mine workers had quit, and
men whose eyes were shot out, children
who were blown out of their beds by
dynamite and women who suffered seri-
Gus injuries live to protest against the
union labor.
Never before In it's history has the
anthracite mining union been called
upon to meet determined attempt to
work the mines during general strike.
The sentiment Of the community in the
mining region is hostile to such at
tempts and heretofore the operators
have bowed to public sentiment At this
time, however, the operators think there
is no general sympathy for the mine
workers and that the demand for coal
will compel them to work the mines.
That a great many miners believe
that the strikew iii be bitter struggle
between the workmen and their EN-
ployers was evidenced by the departure
of scores of miners from the Schuylkill
region. A majority of these men are
foreigners who will go to their homes
in Europe and there await the outcome
of the pending strife.
Nowhere In the world is the feeling
so strong against nonunion labor as in
the anthracite field Thirty years have
not sufficed to wipe away the stigma
Of one days WORK Gin the diggings"
during the first strike In the region. In
churches and in schools children are
made to feel the weight and force Of
the unwritten law against nonunion la
Dor and social obllteration is the por-
ton of all who set alde the custom
Of the region.
Illinois Miners Quit.
Without demonstration of any kind.
but quietly as for holiday, $50 coal
mines In Illinois closed down. The
$4,000 miners employed in the shafts
remained at their homes in pursuance
of the strike instructions issued from
the Springfield headquarters. Coal dig
ging came to an abrupt standstill prac.
tically throughout the State.
At the outset of the strike, at least,
violence Is not expected. Neither min
ers nor operators have given much con-
sideration to possibilities along this
line. Later, especially If attempt is