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Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 24, 1902
Pennsylvania Anthracite Strikers Ordered to Resume Work, Part I
From the Scranton Tribune of October 22, 1902:
[Part I of II]
By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 21.-With a shout that fairly shook the convention building, the representatives of the 147,000 mine workers, who have been on strike since last May, officially declared off at noon today the greatest contest ever waged between capital and labor, and placed all the questions involved in the struggle into the hands of the arbitration commission appointed by the president of the United Slates. When the news was flashed to towns and villages down in the valley and on the mountains of the coal region, the strike-affected inhabitants heaved a sigh of relief.
Many days have gone by since more welcome news was received. Everywhere there was rejoicing, and in many places the end of the strike was the signal for impromptu town celebrations. The anthracite coal region, from its largest city-Scranton-down to the lowliest coal patch has suffered by the conflict, and everyone now looks for better times. While the large army of mine workers and their families, numbering approximately half a million persons, are grateful that work is to be resumed on Thursday, the strikers have still to learn what their reward will be. President Roosevelt having taken prompt action in calling the arbitrators together for their first meeting on Friday, the miners hope they will know by Thanksgiving day what practical gain they have made.
The vote to resume coal mining was a unanimous one and was reached only after a warm debate. The principal objection to accepting the arbitration proposition was that no provision was contained in the scheme to take care of those men who would fail to get back their old positions, or would be unable to get any work at all. The engineers and pumpmen get better pay than other classes of mine workers, and they did not wish to run the risk of losing altogether their old places and be compelled to dig coal for a living. This question came up yesterday, and was argued right up to the time the vote was taken. No one had a definite plan to offer to overcome the objection, and the report of the committee on resolutions, recommending that the strike be declared off and that all issues be placed in the hands of the arbitration commission for decision, was adopted without the question being settled. A few moments before adjournment, however, a partial solution was reached when a delegate in the farthest corner of the hall moved that the problem be placed in the hands of the three executive boards for solution, and his suggestion was adopted.
The principal speech of the day was made by National Secretary-Treasurer W. B. Wilson, who practically spoke for President Mitchell and the national organisation. In a strong argument he counselled the men to accept arbitration, the very plan the strikers themselves had offered, return to work and trust to the president’s tribunal to do them justice.
A Serious Question.
The question of taking care of all men who will fall to get work immediately will be a serious one for the union. There is no doubt the executive boards will take care of the engineers, firemen and pumpmen, but there will be thousands of other classes of mine workers who will have to be looked after. In some places hundreds will not be able to get work for weeks and in other localities, where the mines are in very bad condition there will be no employment for many workmen for months which will carry their idleness into next year.
Now that the strike is off the volume of relief money will decrease and the local unions will be compelled to call upon the national organization for assistance when the money now on hand runs out. The close of the great conflict will end in a few days. Probably with the passing of this week the assessment now being levied on all bituminous mine workers affiliated with the union will cease. The officers who care to talk of the situation feel confident that the national body will come to the assistance and help all those who stood out during the suspension.
Hundreds of men, needed to repair the mines and otherwise place them in condition for operation, will be at work tomorrow morning, the convention having decided that this was imperative to get the men to work quickly and satisfy the country’s demand for coal. All the locals will hold meetings tomorrow at which instructions will be given the members regarding their application for work. The proceedings in the convention indicate that there will be some friction in some of the local organizations over many little questions which will come up in connection with the men returning to the mines.
President Mitchell received many congratulatory telegrams from all over the country after the news spread that the strike was ended. On his return to his headquarters he was asked for an expression of his views on the action of the convention, and in reply he said:
I am well pleated with the action of the anthracite mine workers in deciding to submit the issues which culminated in the strike to the commission selected by the president of the United States.
The strike itself has demonstrated the power and dignity of labor. Conservative, intelligent trade unionism has received an impetus, the effect of which cannot be measured. I earnestly hope and firmly believe that both labor and capital have learned lessons from the miners’ strike which will enable them to adopt peaceful, humane and business methods of adjusting wage differences in the future.
The Official Announcement.
After Mr. Mitchell had notified President Roosevelt of the action of the convention and had received a reply to the effect that the commission would meet in Washington on Friday, he sent out the following announcement through the press to the strikers that the strike was off. It was addressed, “All Miners and Mine Workers in the Anthracite Region,” and was as follows:
You are hereby officially notified that it was unanimously decided today by the delegates attending the special convention, that all mine workers should report for work Thursday morning, October 23, and that the issues which culminated in the strike should be referred for adjustment to the commission appointed by the president of the United States.
We are authorized by the executive officers of districts 1, 7, and 9, to caution all those who resume work to exercise more than usual care in older that accidents to life and limb may be averted. Owing to the condition of the mines after an idleness of five months there will be great danger when work is resumed. We are prompted to offer this advice by the fact that at the close of the strike two years ago many more accidents and deaths occurred than take place when the mines are operating regularly.
John Mitchell,
President, U. M. W. of A.
W. P. Wilson,
Secretary-Treasurer, U. W. of A.President Mitchell has not made any arrangements regarding his future movement. He does not know whether he will go to Washington on Friday. The miners’ leader will act as the attorney for the men at all sessions of the commission and will have with him several assistants. Headquarters here will be kept open probably until after the award of the arbitration commission is announced.
The Resolutions Adopted.
Tho resolutions which the convention adopted were reported from committed as follows:
[The committee on resolutions recommended that the following communication be adopted and forwarded to Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States of America.]
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 21,
Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: We, the representatives of the employes of the various coal companies engaged in operating mines in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania, in convention assembled, having under consideration your telegram of Oct. 15, 1902, addressed to John Mitchell, president of the United Mines Workers of America, which reads as follows:
“I have appointed as commissioners Brigadier General John M. Wilson, E. W. Parker, Judge George Gray, E. E. Clark, Thomas J. Watkins, Bishop J. L. Spalding, with Carroll D. Wright as recorder. These names are accepted by the operators, and I now earnestly ask and urge that the miners likewise accept this commission. It is a matter of vital concern to all our people, and especially to those in our great cities, who are least well off, that the mining of coal should be resumed without a moment’s unnecessary delay.”
We have decided to accept the proposition therein embodied and submit all questions at issue between the operators and the mine workers of the anthracite coal region for adjustment to the commission which you have named.
In pursuance of that decision we shall report for work on Thursday morning, Oct. 23, in the positions and working places occupied by us prior to the inauguration of the strike.
We have authorized John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers of America, with such assistants as he may select, to represent us in all hearings before the committee.
John Mitchell,
Chairman of Convention,
W. B, Wilson,
Secretary of Convention.A few engineers, firemen, pumprunners, machinists and some other men, not directly engaged in mining coal, have already applied to the superintendents of collieries in this region for re-instatement, but were refused. The superintendents, in most cases, informed the men that they will retain their present employes. The total number of men who have asked for work in this region is not known, but it is not believed to be large. The miners and mine laborers will have little trouble in getting employment in the Wyoming valley.
Delegates Leave the City.
All the delegates who attended the convention have left the city for their respective homes, and strike headquarters presented a deserted appearance tonight. Reports from the small towns in the outlying regions are to the effect that celebrations of all kinds were held tonight. Some of the larger towns will celebrate the ending of the strike tomorrow. The greatest celebration, however, will be reserved for October 29-John Mitchell day. That day will mark the second anniversary of the ending of the big strike in 1900, when the men won a ten per cent. increase. The anniversary was observed last year with considerable enthusiasm, and the day this year will probably be more generally observed. President Mitchell has more than a half-dozen invitations to speak at various places, but he will not accept any until he learns whether the arbitration committee needs his presence.
The commanders of the 10,000 troops camped throughout the coal fields have no information as to when the soldiers will be withdrawn. They expect to get orders to begin the homeward movement soon…..
[Photograph, paragraph breaks and emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/761305973/
Scranton Tribune
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-Oct 22, 1902
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026355/1902-10-22/ed-1/seq-1/
IMAGE
John Mitchell, The Columbian, Bloomsburg PA p2, Oct 23, 1902
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83032011/1902-10-23/ed-1/seq-2/
See also:
“The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in U.S. Policy
The Federal Government, with the Commissioner of Labor in a fact finding role, acted as a ‘neutral’ for the first time in contributing to settlement of the bitter coal strike”
-By Jonathan Grossman
https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/coalstrike
“Report to the President on Anthracite Coal Strike”
-by Carroll Davidson Wright, Commissioner of Labor
-Submitted to President Roosevelt, June 20, 1902
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1902
https://books.google.com/books?id=O2JCAQAAMAAJ
PHOTO: Anthracite Coal Strike Commission
appointed 1902 by President Roosevelt
https://www.loc.gov/resource/stereo.1s01945/
“Report to the President on the Anthracite Coal Strike
of May-October, 1902″
-United States. Anthracite Coal Strike Commission
-Submitted to President Roosevelt, Mach 18, 1903
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1903
https://books.google.com/books?id=LkowAAAAYAAJ
Tag: Great Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902
https://weneverforget.org/tag/great-anthracite-coal-strike-of-1902/
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Working Man-The Men Of The Deeps
Lyrics by Rita MacNeil