Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1902 — CONFERENCE FAILED [ARTICLE]

CONFERENCE FAILED

Mine Operators and Strikers Are Still as Far Apart as They .* Ever Were. COAL "BARONS” ILL-TEMPERED Indulge in Bitter Tirades Against the Miners’ Union and Criticise Roosevelt. Baer Says Operators Were Bed into a Trap and President Shakes His Fist at Him. Washington, Oet 7.—-President Roosevelt has askinl John Mitchell to use his Influence to get the miners to return to work and promises the appointment of a commission to investigate their grievances. Wilkesbarre,. Pa., Oet 9.—President Mitchell returned here early in the morning from his conference at Buffalo with the Manufacturers’ association. At 11 o’clock he issued the following statement: “Up to this hour ut least thirty telegraphic reports have been received from local unions giving the action taken by them last night and this morning. These reports are substantially as follows: The mine workers resolved not to return to work until the demands as formulated at the Shamokin convention art granted or until the strike is called off by a convention of the mine workers or President Mitchell.”

Washington, Oet. 9.—President Mitchell of the coal miners union, has refused to comply with the appeal of President Roosevelt to call the strike off. His letter to the president, which was made public at the White House today, says the responsibility for the continuation of the strike should lie placed upon those who have refused arbitration.

Washington, Oct o.—Following Is the gist of the statements presented to President Roosevelt by John Mitchell of the miners’ union, and President Baer of the Reading Railway company: John Mitchell, president of the I nlted Mine Workers, to President Roosevelt —We propose that tin* issues culminating in this strike shall be referred to you and a tribunal of your own selection and agree to accept your award upon all or any of the questions Involved. George F. liner, head of the coal trust, to President Roosevelt—The duty of the hour is not to waste time negotiating with the fomenters of this anarchy and insolent defiance of law, but to do as was done in the war of the rebellion—restore the majesty of the law, the only guardian of free people, and to re-establish order and peace at any cost. Conference a Failure. President Roosevelt's effort to eon dilate the anthracite coal ojwrutors und mine workers through a conference at the White House proved a failure. John Mitchell, national president of the minors’ union, was conciliatory und showed a sincere desire to settle the strike through the president’s mediation. The coal operators were ill-tempered and defiant They openly criticised the president and asserted that he could settle tin* strike at once by ordering federal troops to protect non-un- * lon miners. Besides Indulging In \tcious tirade against the mine workers’ union, which they characterized as a lawh-ss combination, they charged by insinuation and even openly that the president was not performing his duty. George F. Baer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, with brutal candor, charged the president with playing politics.

Markle Flaunts a Cartoon. John Markli*, the richest individual mine operator in Pennsylvania, at one stage of the conference pulled from his pocket a copy of an illustrated paper containing a cnrtoon in colors representing union miners murdering nonunion men with Justice standing in the background in an attitude of helie lessness, her eyes bandaged and her sword trolling the ground. Markle flourished this before the president's eyes and said It was on accurate picture of conditions in the Pennsylvania anthracite Helds. The operators acted throughout ns If they felt offended and insulted because President Mitchell and three other officers 01 the Mine Workers’ union were present at the conference. They seemed to feel that If the president of the United States had anything to say to them about the coal strike he should have arranged to sn.v it without the presence of the labor leaders. BooMvelt’l Temper Aroused. President Baer charged, in u petulant manner after President Mitchell hod expressed a willingness to submlt to arbitration that the coal operators wore lod Into n trap. This was the first utterance that aroused the president’s temper. Ill* face flushed a deep crimson and shaking hie fist at Baer ho hotly resented the Insinuation that ho had been a party to dofeptkin Of any sort Ce said that he old not know of Mr. Mitchell's purpose fe> offer to submit to arbitration. The operators ha ve appeared boldly before

the court of public opinion and have defied the president, his cabinet and the people. It is the president’s nest move. He has said repeatedly within the past twenty-four hours that if the operators and miners do not get together, settle their differences and resume mining of coal, coal will be mined by a power which they cannot control. “We will mine coal, and, moreover, we will see to Its distribution,” the president is quoted as saying. Congress May lie Called. The president’s future course Is a carefully guarded secret It Is suggested that lie may call congress in extraordinary session to pass a law which will enable the executive branch of tin* government to seize and operate the mines. It is suggested also that he lias an understanding with the Pennsylvania authorities by the terms of which Governor Stone will request the federal government to send troops Into the mining regions and assume control of the mines. Martial law could tbe.n be declared and once In operation the president would be supreme. He could mine coni. He could, if necessary, seize the coal roads and compel them to carry the product of the mines. Synopsis of the Conference. In sum and substance this is what happened at the conference: 1. President Roosevelt read to the conferrees his appeal for peace in behalf of the public. 2. President Mitchell on behalf of the miners responded with a proposal that the men would go back to work at once and leave the question of new wages to President Roosevelt and a commission to be appointed by him, asking only that the representatives of the mining corporations also bind themselves to accept the verdict 3. This was scornfully rejected by all the corporation managers, each of whom declared that he would have nothing to do with any proposition emanating from John Mitchell or the miners' union.

No Dealings with Union. 4. The only semblance of a , proposition made by the railway presidents was ■ that the miners first return to work and then as individuals, not as an organization, present their grievances to the mine bosses. If the mine bosses could not adjust them the companies would ngr<*o to have them refereed by the judges of the common pleas court But In no case was there to bo any business dealings with the ; union. f>. Then the railway presidents made ' a violent personal attack upon Presl- ; dent Mitchell and the Mine Workers’ | union, charging them with complicity I in disorder and murder in the coal re- | gion. 0. The railway presidents also turned I on President Roosevelt and demanded of him that lie serai federal troops to the anthracite field, couching their demand in language which President Roosevelt himself resented as impertinent and offensive, WHOLE OF PENNSYLVANIA'S GUARD I Ordered Into the Strike Region, anft Why It lias Horn Done. Harrisburg, Pa., Get 7.—Governor i Stone has ordered out the entire dii vision of the National Guard of Peim- ■ sylvania to duty in the anthracite coal | regions. The soldiers .are in the field ; today. The order calling out the guards gives the following as the mi son for i such action: “In certain portions of the I counties of Luzerne, Schuylkill, Carbou, Lackawanna, Susquehanna, North- ! umlK*rland and Columbia tumults and j riots frequently oceiy, and mob law ! reigns; men who desire to work have been beaten and driven away and their families threatened. Railroad trains have been delayed, stoned, and the tracks torn up. The situation grows more* serious each day * * * "As tulmults, riots, mobs and disorder usually occur when men attempt to work in and about the coal mines In* [the commanding general] will see their all men who desire to work and their families have ample military protection. He will protect all trains and other property from unlawful interference, and will arrest ull iiersons engaging in acts of violence and intimidation and hold them under guard until their release will not endanger the public peace; will see that threats, intimidations, assaults and nil nets of violence cense at once.” Governor Stone called a conference of the general officers of tin* guard, at which it was decided to place these troops in the field. Mitchell Doe* to ISutfalo. Buffalo, X. Y., Oct 8. —President John Mitchell and his party and tlie committee* appointed by the National Manufacturers association arrived here. No member of either party would discuss the probable propositions to be submitted for a plan whereby th** manufacturers might secure a supply of anthracite coal and thus keep their plants in operation during the contlnunnce of the strike. The conference between President Mitchell and the committee of the manufacturers’ association began at 9:45 behind closed door. Coal Conference In Detroit. Detroit, Mich., Oct 9.—At 10 o'clock a. m. 110 delegates to the interstate conference on the coal situation had registered in the council chamber. The, conference was late In assembling. When It Was finally called to order at 10:45 by Mayor Moybury there were 200 delegates on tho Door. Ex-Govern-or Cyrus G. Luce of Michigan was elected chairman of the eonventtan.