The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-03-30
THE THREATENED COAL STRIKE


As It exists in the soft coal industry.
collective bargaining began in 1885,
that year making the first interstate
joint conference Of the organized
miners and their employers. In the
anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, 1t
grew out of the great strike of 1902
v hich was settled by a commission,
named by Theodore Roosevelt, then
president.
But today, especially in the soft coal
fields the joint movement Of operators
and miners, such being the trade ref
erence to the collective bargaining
system. faces an unprecedented situa-
ton. No Interstate wage conference
seems probable because of the refusal
of some operators to continue the
present system; both criminal and
civil proceedings in the federal court
here attack the legality of the whole
bargaining movement. alleging that it
is a conspiracy to boost the price of
coal; for the first time, agreements in
both the bituminous and anthracite
fields expire on the same date-March
31st.
Long before the present bargaining
system was adopted, local agreements
had been made between operators and
their employees the first having been
that negotiated in 1869 between some
anthracite miners and operators by
John Siney, known as the father of
the miners movement in America. But
these agreements-when they were
made in the early days-only affected
small areas, and did not touch the
thousands of miners as do those of
today.
The circular, issued Jointly by the
miners and operators for their 1885
conference, gave this description Of the
proposal:
This is the first movement of a
national character in America, taken
with the intention of the establish
ment of labor Cancellation"
From the conference resulting an
agreement. executed at Columbus. O.,
Feb. g. 1885, which fixed a wage scale
in the soft coal fields of western Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and
West Virginia, and created a board
Of arbitration, on which the miners
and operators had equal representa-
annually, until 1895 when the panic of
1893, having set in. demoralizing the
coal trade, and broke off negotiations.
but were revived again in 1898, and
continued down to the present.
The initiative in the joint movement
was taken by the miners. Their con-
vention. at Indianapolis, decided to is
sue a call to all operators for joint
meeting on October Is, 1885, at Chi
cago. Daniel Mclaughlin, of Illinois.
chairman of the convention, was the
father Of the plan. He first proposed
it in a letter to the National Labor
Tribune in 1885, and later brought 1t
to the attention of the miners dele
gate convention. AS a result, the con-
vention directed Chris Evens of New
Straitsville, Ohio, now historian of
the United Mine Workers of America.
to invite all operators to Chicago for
a conference for the purpose of ad-
Justing market and mining prices in
such a way as to avoid strikes and
lockouts and give to each party an in
creased profit FROM the sale of coal"
The proposal so made was, accord
ing to the old miners, like asking the
lion and the tiger to lie down together,
for the coal industry previously had
been replete with many strikes or
lockouts. In 1884, the great Ohio Hook
ing Valley strike had occurred, con-
tinuing until the early part of 1885,
when finally settled. leaving both sides
suffering from battle scars.
Only one operator, w. P. Rend, of
Chicago. owner of mines in the Hook
ing Valley, answered the invitation by
appearing for the Chicago meeting,
and but FOR his presence the entire
plan probably would have been
dropped. At his suggestion, an invi-
tation was issued to Chicago operators
to attend meeting with the miners
the next day. Eight operators attend
ed and agreed with the miners to call
a meeting at Pittsburg. There, seven
teen operators met with fourteen
miners representatives, but were not
ready to act on any scale though they
favored the joint movement. The
Pittsburg conference deferred consid-
Grafton of scale to a meeting held at
Columbus, Feb. %, 1885, when the
agreement was executed.
Joint agreement, many changes have
come in the coal industry, among them
the following:
Eight hour day for miners and mine
laborers; universal mine-run basis for
determining tonnage on which wages
are based; increased wages; abolition
of company stores, commonly known
as ''pluck-mess;" better mining laws;
improved working conditions and con-
tinuity of labor supply.
The interstate movement. as it has
been practiced in the past history of
the soft coal industry. consists of the
operators and miners each drafting a
set OF demands The miners invaria-
bly, asked wage increases and the op-
orators asked wage reductions OF for
changed working conditions or both,
each side usually asking more than
either expected. The result of the ne
gotlatlcns between operators and min
ers fixed wage rates and working con-
ditions for the so-called Central Com