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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 27, 1900
Hazleton, Pennsylvania – Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Coal Strike
From the Philadelphia Times of October 26, 1900:
Special Telegram to THE TIMES.
HAZLETON, October 25.
The great coal strike is a thing of the past.
President Mitchell, at 8 o’clock this evening, issued a statement calling the miners to return to work at all operations where the strikers’ demands have been met. The statement follows:
Temporary Headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America, Hazleton, Pa., October 25, 1900.
To the Miners and Mine Workers of the Anthracite Region.
Gentlemen: After carefully canvassing the entire strike situation, we, your officers, district and national, have concluded that your victory is so nearly complete that no good end can be served by continuing the strike longer. The contest has been in progress for thirty-nine days and the companies employing you have, with few exceptions, signified their willingness to pay the scale of wages formulated by the Scranton convention of October 12 and 13.
We are aware that some disappointment and dissatisfaction has been caused by the failure of the operators in Districts No. 1 and 7 to separate the reduction in the price of powder from the advance in wages; but after careful inquiry we are satisfied that each mine employe will actually receive an advance of ten per cent. on the wages formerly paid. In the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions the largest companies have agreed that the sliding scale should be suspended; and that wages should remain stationary at ten per cent. until April 1, 1901, thus removing one of the iniquities of which you have complained for many years.
Not All Wrongs Righted.
While it is true that you have not secured redress for all your wrongs; while it is true that the increase in your earnings will not fully compensate you for the arduous labor you are compelled to perform in the mines; you have established a powerful organization, which, if maintained and conducted on business principles, will enable you to regulate many of your local grievances and make your employment less hazardous and more profitable than before the strike began.
The companies agree, in their notices, to take up with their mine employes all grievances complained of. We would, therefore, advise that, when work is resumed, committees be selected by the mine employes, and that they wait upon the superintendents of the companies and present their grievances, in an orderly, business-like manner, and ask that they be corrected.
Your attention is respectfully called to the fact that the laws of the State of Pennsylvania provide that miners should be paid semi-monthly, upon demand; we should, therefore, advise that each mine employe serve notice on the companies that he expects to be paid his wages twice each mouth, as provided by law.
Benefit of Organization.
The practical benefits to the miners which accrue from thorough organization have been so clearly demonstrated during this strike that it should be needless for us to urge upon you the necessity of maintaining your union intact. We trust, however, that those who are now members of the union will be unceasing in their efforts to induce all other mine workers to ally themselves with the United Mine Workers of America at once, as it will be impossible for you to secure higher wages in the future, or even to maintain the present rate of wages, unless you are prepared to offer a united resistance if any attempt is made to reduce your earnings upon the expiration of the present offer.
As there are some few companies who have neither posted, notified, nor signified in any other manner, their willingness to grant the 10 per cent. advance in wages and suspend the sliding scale, we would advise that, unless the men employed by such companies receive notice before Monday that the advance will be paid, they remain away from the mines and continue on strike until the companies employing them agree to the conditions offered by the other companies; and the employes of the companies who have offered the advance of 10 per cent. and abolished the sliding scale are hereby authorized to resume work Monday morning, October 29, and to be prepared, if called upon, to contribute a reasonable amount of your earnings for the maintenance of those who may be compelled to continue on strike.
JOHN MITCHELL,
President.
W. B. WILSON,
Secretary United Mine Workers of America.
FRED DILCHER, G. W. PURCELL, W. R. FAIRLEY, BENJAMIN JAMES,
National Executive Board, U. M. W. of A.
T. D. NICHOLLS, President District No. 1.
JOHN T. DEMPSEY, Secy. of District No. 1.
THOMAS DUFFY, President of District No. 7.
JOHN P. GALLAGHER, Secy. District No. 7.
JOHN FAHY, President of District No. 9.
GEORGE W. HARTLEIN, Secy. District No. 9.
E. C. MORRIS, Secretary Conference Com.[…..]
The announcement of the settlement of the strike was received with much joy both by the miners, business men and the community in general. President Mitchell is receiving much praise for the manner in which the strike was conducted, and even the operators, who so despised him in the early part of the strike, praise him for his sagacity and business tact…..
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[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, If war Shamokin Sep 8, Phl Iq p2, Sept 9, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/167217933/
The Times
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
-Oct 26, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53783547
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53783548
See also:
Tag: Great Anthracite Strike of 1900
https://weneverforget.org/tag/great-anthracite-strike-of-1900/
Duluth Labor World of Oct 20, 1900
“Hard Coal Trust
Unrelenting, Autocratic Monarch in Commercial World.
A Monopoly Without Standing in the Courts and Cannot Be Touched Under Present Laws, Controlling the Entire Hard Coal Output an Issuing Its imperial Decrees Without Fear of Legal Resistance-An Absolute Monopoly.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1900-10-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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They’ll Never Beat the Miners
-Wilden Brothers and Durham Miners Wives
Lyrics by Ed Pickford