The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-10-26

once. The action that Mr.. Wilson took
has been deferred so that it shall not
take place until considerably after
election.
Refused to Arbitrate.
Fourteen years ago the great anthra-
cite coal strike had occurred in this
region. From the beginning l put the
governmental agents in touch with the
situation and kept myself thoroughly
informed, so that l should be able to
act Immediately if it became neces-
sary for me to act l hoped that 1t
would not be necessary, and that the
parties themselves would come to an
agreement; for 1 was very loath to in
tcrfere if it could be avoided. But cold
weather approached, a coal famine
menaced the entire eastern section of
the United States and there was not
the slightest symptom of an agreement
being reached by the COntending par
ties l felt that the time had come for
ME to act. On the one side were the
greatest and Wealthiest mine-oWners
of the country, intimately connected
with the Wealthest and most powerful
industrial and railroad corporations In
the country. The financial strength Of
Wall Street was behind them. These
men absolutely refused to arbitrate.
They said there was nothing to arb1-
trate, that l had no power under the
Constitution to act, and that the pub
lie could not interfere, nor the repre-
sentatives of the public, with the way
in which they managed their business.
The representatives of the mine work
ers, Of labor, on the contrary, expressed
their entire willingness to arbitrate and
demanded nothing except that as one
of the conditions Of arbitration there
should be some representative of or
ganized labor to sit together with the
representatives of capital and of the
public at large. I made every effort to
get the two sides to agree. When
failed, l decided that l would act my
/ self l held that where the public ne
| cessity was national and imperative it
! became the duty of the Chief of the
| Nation to act. l held that in any such
! gigantic controversy between labor and
| canital, containing such a threat to the
! welfare Of the great body of our peo-
! pie. there were three parties in inter-
! est viz. the capitalists. the working
men, and the people as whole; and
that where the public need was vital
that need must control.
! l held, moreover, that in any case of
such importance and such interest we
must have full knowledge before final
action on any of the points at issue
| was taken, and that this knowledge
must be obtained by an unbiased body
| Of af a tbnrn11Oh Ctll1V
of the situation. | held that the power
| Of the Government must be used to
make effective the findings of this body,
and that pending the findings the work
of mining must go on because the pub
| lie need demanded it. Therefore, de-
| cided that l would use the entire pow
er of the nation to see that there was
an arbitration by dispassionate experts.
and that the conclusions of that arbi-
] tration were accepted by both sides,
J and that until their decision was rem
dered the work Of mining should go on
in the interests of the people as
whole. When the mine owners, backed
! by and representing the most powerful
financial interests of the country, posi-
lively refused to arbitrate, l proceeded
to appoint an arbitration commission
without regard to them; securing the
consent of a political opponent, ex
President Grover Cleveland, to serve
at the head of the commission. saw
the Lieutenant General of the Army
and arranged with him that If neces-
sary would put the army in posses
sion of the mines and would treat him
as a receiver to run the mines, and to
see that neither side interfered with
the running. When 1t became evident
that 1 meant what / said, that both
sides could count on my endeavor to
do strict justice, and that they could
also count on my insisting that the
public needs be Immediately met, the
capitalists yielded and the commission
was appointed.
You know the rest, you miners here!
Work was resumed in the mines i'm
mediately, on the old terms, which
! continued until the commission report
ed. The Commission consisted Of as
able and as impartial men as there
we're in the country. including the head
of the Order OF Railway Conductors
Mr.. Clark. 1t also included among
! others. a Federal Judge. q skilled en-
gineer. a trained labor expert and a
J beloved friend of mine, Archbishop