622 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



spread, by order of the association, through- 

 out the Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Lower Wyo- 

 ming districts, though there was at this time 

 no particular difference between the operators 

 and miners in these sections. The operators 

 in the Upper "Wyoming region had repeatedly 

 refused to accept the so-called " basis system " 

 of wages proposed by the miners' association, 

 and it was perhaps this, more than the pro- 

 posed reduction, which rendered the strike 

 bitter and violent. The basis system was pro- 

 posed in the early part of 1869, and was re- 

 luctantly accepted, after a series of strikes, 

 suspensions, and compromises, by the operators 

 in the Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Lower Wyoming 

 districts. It provided that the price of wages 

 be fixed at the lowest price for coal ; that the 

 minimum be established at a certain expressed 

 figure, and that, if coal advanced beyond that 

 price, wages should advance in proportion. 

 At the time of the strike, the men in the 

 Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Lower Wyoming dis- 

 tricts were working on the basis of $2.50 a 

 ton. On the 15th of February the General 

 Council of the Working-men's Benevolent As- 

 sociation ordered a resumption of work on 

 condition that the Upper Wyoming operators 

 should return to the rates before the strike, 

 namely, $1-31 per diamond car, and the opera- 

 tors in the other sections to the basis of $3. 

 This was not agreed to. Some of the opera- 

 tors were willing to accept it, but they were 

 powerless to do so, on account of the action 

 of the railroad companies, themselves large 

 operators, and opposed to the proposition, in 

 raising the price, for carrying the coal to mar- 

 ket, to nearly three times the former figure. 

 The legality of this action of the railroad com- 

 panies was questioned by the Governor, who 

 demanded the official opinion of the Attorney- 

 General of the State. This was decidedly ad- 

 verse to the railroads. The Governor, with a 

 message strongly indorsing it, transmitted the 

 opinion to the Legislature, and a protracted 

 investigation followed. The report supported 

 the railroads, and announced that there was 

 no legal limit to the rates which the com- 

 panies might charge for the transportation of 

 freights over their lines, for the reason that 

 the word " toll," which can be variously in- 

 terpreted, is used in the original charters in the 

 place of "fare" or "freight," in the sections 

 limiting the rates of charges. Not content 

 with this, the opinion of the Supreme Court 

 was asked by the Governor. The question 

 was not definitely settled. 



In the early part of April there were serious 

 riots in the section about Scranton, caused by 

 the determination of the men of the associa- 

 tion to prevent non-union men from working. 

 A mine, known as the Tripp slope, was entered 

 by a body of men, the track was torn up, the 

 cars demolished, and the works so damaged 

 that their operation was completely stopped ; 

 and relentless war was waged on the half- 

 dozen miners who had worked there. The 



mayor of the city read the riot act, but, ac- 

 complishing nothing thereby and apprehend- 

 ing more serious outbreaks, the aid of the 

 Governor was evoked. Governor Geary, in 

 response, ordered portions of the State militia 

 to the section by the following proclamation : 



Whereas, The recent suspension of work by the 

 miners in the anthracite coal-regions of the State, 

 and the subsequent imposition by the transportation 

 companies of prohibitory rates, have entailed great 

 and manifold evils upon miners, operators, consum- 

 ers, manufacturers, and others; and, whereas, all 

 efforts of the Executive and their friends of law and 

 social order have failed to harmonize the conflicting 1 

 interests and bring about an amicable adjustment ot 

 the existing difficulties ; and, whereas, the recent in- 

 vestigation before a committee of the Senate has 

 failed to provide any remedy for existing evils, or 

 to accomplish any thing toward the desired adjust- 

 ment, or to give promise of relief to a suffering peo- 

 ple ; and, whereas, as usual in such cases, the un- 

 natural, aggravated, and unlawful conflict between 

 labor and capital has resulted, as I am advised, in 

 breaches of the peace and the destruction of life and 

 property at the city of Scranton and other places in 

 the mining regions of that vicinity, and is assuming 

 the shape of mob violence on the part of the miners 

 and others, further threatens the lives and property 

 of the law-abiding citizens, and the temporary sub- 

 version of the laws, and calls for prompt and efficient 

 remedies : 



Now, therefore, I, John "W. Geary, Governor of 

 the said Commonwealth, by virtue of the power and 

 authority vested in me by the constitution and laws, 

 do hereby proclaim and declare : 



1. That it is unlawful for any person or association 

 of persons, by violence, threats, or other coercive 

 means, to prevent any laborers or miners from work- 

 ing when they please, for whom they please, and at 

 such wages as they please ; and alike unlawful, by 

 such violence or threats, to deter or prevent the 

 owner or operators of mines from employing whom- 

 soever they may choose to employ, and at such wages 

 as may be agreed upon between the employer and 

 the persons employed. 



2. That it is unlawful for any railroad or other 

 transportation company, in subversion of the objects 

 of its creation, to impose rates of freight or trans- 

 portation intended to be, and which are, substantially 

 prohibitory, or to combine with others to effect the 

 same^ ends, and thus create, prolong, or aggravate 

 existing evils. 



_ 3. That it is unlawful, at all times, and under all 

 circumstances, for persons to assemple in a riotous 

 or tumultuous manner, and, under grievances, either 

 actual or intended, to commit breaches of the peace, 

 destroy property, or endanger, or take the lives of 

 others, and thus subvert and nullify the laws, and 

 subject the good name of the State to humiliation 

 and reproach. 



4. That reliable information having been received 

 that these riotous assemblages are too large and 

 powerful to be dispersed, or suppressed by the local 

 authorities of Scranton, which have called on me 

 for aid, I have invoked the military power of the 

 State to suppress the riots and mobs at Scranton, 

 and wherever else in the Commonwealth such un- 

 lawful assemblages may be found, and, under the 

 conviction that the time has come for a complete set- 

 tlement for the present and future of the unlawful 

 complications and difficulties under which the people 

 now suffer, I have also invoked the civil power of 

 the State against the railroad and other transporta- 

 tion companies for the misuse and abuse ot their 

 corporate rights and privileges, and will enforce all 

 the remedies authorized by the laws of the land: 

 and I call upon all military organizations to hold 

 themselves in readiness to support the civil authori- 



