Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-25
CASH TAKES PRECEDENCE
Workers Are Poor Union Men, But
Are All Good Strikers.
SITUATION Is QUITE COMPLEX
| Question of Peace or War Nav Be
Decided at Bituminous Con-
| ference at Cleveland.
pecial From a STAFF Correspondent.

special From STAFF Correspondent.
| SCRANTON, Pa, March -. 1912.
| tomorrow d meeting will be held in
Cleveland, attended by about 200 repre-
sentatives Of the coal miners. at which
| the whole question of q strike in both the
anthracite and bituminous districts will
be discussed. This body Is the policy
board Of the United Mine Workers. and
on its decision will perhaps depend the
issue OF peace or war. 50 far az the
union controls 1t.
Probably tho public will not be in
formed Of it's conclusions. for there Will
remain several days before the test
comes. and IN those days the negotia-
tons between the two sets Of men. one
| sitting in New York to consider the hard
coal matters and the other in Cleveland
to try to work out new scale in the soft
local industry. may be resumed. The
Cleveland scale negotiations will be surely
resumed Tuesday: the hard coal confer
ence may not be again called into session.
! When the operators and miners dele
gates held their last meeting in New
York the other day adjournment was had
on the understanding that the operators
| had made their final proposition, to re-
| new the agreement for another term of
three years, and that there would be no
| further session unless the miners had
something new to offer, some sort of
compromise.
One of the leading men of the miners
! union told me here yesterday, on the eve
of his departure for Cleveland. that his
side would make no overtures. Perhaps
he mentally reserved the possibility that
at the meeting Of the policy board it
| would be found that the soft coal men
were going to get their advance and
would not strike, in which case some
thing might be worked out as sugges-
| ton for hard coal peace. But 1, am in
| c.ined to think that there will be no
| overtures from the union before April L,
| and that on that day the mines will close
| for short time.
Two Distinct Issues.
There are two distinct issues in this
hard coal matter. as against only one in
| the bituminous field. Here the fight is
| for better pay and union recognition;
| there it Is for better pay alone. For in
| the soft coal districts of the four COM
petitive states" Pennsylvania. Ohio, In
| diana and Illinois, the union already is
recognized. Here in eastern PennSylVa-
mia the men want 10 per cent more wages
and shorter hours, and the union officials
! want recognition. AS far as the bulk OF
| the miners go there is only one question.
that of pay.
1t is important to bear this fact in
mind in considering the coal controversy.
| If the men were offered a substantial in
| crease, say six weeks after suspension of
work, and recognition were refused the
| leaders could probably not hold their fol-
! lowers out of the mines. They would go
| back to work in a hurry. glad OF the
| chance. If on the other hand the leaders
were offered their choice between an ad-
vanced scale and union recognition, they
| would doubtless take the latter with
great eagerness.
TO show the divergence of views in this
14ty rnfn thn 6o Of tvIyn ION
with whom l talked yesterday at some
| length on the situation. One is mine
| operator, the other a union leader. 1t
| will be unnecessary to identify them
| further.
| why" said one of these men, should
| we agree to turn our business over to a
loosely organized, imperfect union under
| conditions that would surely make trouble
| for us every season. especially as recOg-
| nition' would mean the establishment of
| the check-o system of company cOllec-
| ton of dues? Why should We contract to
| fill the war chest of our opponents by
their ranks and to pay their monthly dol
| lars into their treasury, to be held as a
| menace to our peace?
The Other Viewpoint.
That is one point of view. Here is
the other:
why should not the operators be will
| ing to let us organize their workers and
insure their peace through our strength?
We have maintained peace for nine years
under the agreement of the commission
of 1902 because we dominated the labor
situation here. We can guarantee the
operators stable conditions. If they do
not recognize us they are in danger OF
getting up against the elements that made
the trouble at Lawrence.
| 1 asked the union official what he
meant and this was his significant reply:
IF the United Mine Workers organiza-
| ton is not recognized and helped by the
operators there is a serious possibility
of the entrance of the Industrial Workers
Of the World into this field. They are
the radical socialists who have been at
the bottom Of the textile strikes in
Massachusetts, and one of their leaders
| is Haywood of the Western Federation
Of Miners. They are already at work
here secretly, distributing their literature
printed in all the languages spoken In
the hard coal district AS yet they have
made no open move. but our people keep
coming across their trail. They are, of
course, hoping for trouble to occur. And
that is what is ahead OF the operators
here my informant made a dramatic
gesture that betrayed his deep feeling
eff they refuse to recognize us. We offer
them peace They have so far refused.
But they may find that they are turning
down their best friends"
| There is no denying the logic of this
| mans proposition, from his point of
| ho< no