The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-05-09
A Record OF Coal Strikes
Since the First In l849
No Adequate Data. as to
the Number of Min
ers' Strikes.

general strike to enforce demands for
sliding scale of wages, basing such
adjustment upon varying prices of coal
at certain points of shipment and de-
livery. This sliding scale was draft
ed by the men themselves and was
most complicated schedule for wage
payments.
The operators took the position that
nobody could tell definitely just how
much money was actually due to the
35, 600 or more individuals under such
a basis Of computing payments, that
the plan could be understood only by
a small proportion of the men and. that
It never would work satisfactorily.
However, the men insisted, and almost
all the operators agreed to this slid
ing scale. So the strike was declared
off, the victory belonging to the union
this time.
This was at the close Of June, 1869.
But the sliding scale worked out so
little to the satisfaction of the men
that in less than two months they de-
manded 20 per cent advance There
was much parleying and compromis-
ing, but finally an agreement was
reached and the men went to work
again.
The Strike of 1870.
Early in 1870 the schuylkill operators
announced reduction of wages The
union resisted and ordered another
strike. The operators offered to CON-
promise, but the union declined, until
in July it effected an agreement with
Franklin B. Gowan, newly elected
president Of the Reading railroad. In
agreement with this "Gowan compro-
mise" the strike was declared off in
August and work was resumed.
In November, 1870, when three of
the great companies announced a re-
duction of 80 per cent the men en-
ployed by these companies went on
strike within few days, and on JAN
10, 1871, general strike was ordered.
which shut down practically every an
thracite mine. After several months
Of idleness. rioting and terrorism the
troops were called out. and in conflict
with them several strikers were killed.
The operators were victorious. and
work was resumed.
Between this strike of 1871 and the
'long strike of 1875 there was no
general organized suspension of work,
although local troubles here and there
were constantly coming up to be dis
cussed, debated and settled somehow.
The 'long strike lasted for five
months and was confined largely to
the Schuylkill region, where operators
announced 10 per cent reduction in
pay. After five months the miners
gave in and went back to work at a
20 per cent reduction.
1t was in 1884 that the Miners and
Laborers' Amalgamated association
was organized, and three years later
it included some 10000 members. Dur
ing these years also the knights of
Labor were actively at work in the
anthracite region, and in 1887 the two
organizations became one in member
ship. A few months afterward the
knights Endorsed a strike which tied
up the mines of the middle and lower
fields. This strike ended in March,
1888, in defeat for the men.
After eight or nine years of compar-
alive peace. unbroken by any general
strike, although punctuated with un-
numbered scraps and disputes and
local strikes, the anthracite region was
visited in 1897 by emissaries of the
United Mine Workers of America, an
organization of bituminous coal work
ers, following long drawn out dis
pute in the middle coal field, when a
mob Of several thousand rioters start
ed to raid the city of Hazleton, but
was stopped by word that the national
guard was already arriving there on
troop trains. Earlier that same day
some thirty men in another wild mob
at Lattimer had been shot to pieces
by a squad of deputies in an effort to
rescue the sheriff, who had been
smashed to the ground and whose life
WAS imperiled. This trouble also was
ended after the military arm of the
state had gained control. and work
was resumed IN the mines.
Big Shutdown of 1901.
1t was on Sept. II, 1901, that John
Mitchell, president of the United Mine
Workers, ordered a general strike for
better wages, reduction in price of
blasting powder, payment of wages
every two weeks, etc. Within a month
practically all of the 366 anthracite COL
lleries we're shut down. After a sus-
pension Of six weeks the operators
agreed to 10 per cent advance in
wages
1t is estimated that this brief strike
OF 1901 cost in money alone nearly
S2O,OOO,OO0.
The last great strike, that of 1902, is
we'll remembered. 1t lasted from Nav
until October Of that year and was
marked by violence. which 10000
troops failed to quell Conditions at
last became so intolerable that Presi-
dent Roosevelt appointed commission
GQftln