<650 STRIKE OP THE COAL-MINERS. 



SUBMARINE BOATS. 



Wright, Thomas H. Watkins, Gen. John M. Wil- 

 son, Edward W. Parker, E. E. Clark, and Bishop 

 John L. Spalding. Judge Gray was elected chair- 

 man. The first conference of the commission 

 -with the parties to the controversy was held Oct. 

 .27, and on the 30th the commissioners, at Scran- 

 ton, Pa., began a personal inspection of the coal- 

 mines and an inquiry into conditions in the an- 

 thracite region. The formal hearing opened at 

 Scranton Nov. 14, with John Mitchell as the first 

 witness. He had previously filed with the com- 

 mission a statement of the miners' case, to which 

 -several of the presidents of the coal companies 

 Jiad presented their replies, in which they refused 

 to recognize or enter into any agreement with 

 the miners' union, denied that wages paid were 

 unfairly low, that the hours were unreasonably 

 long, and that miners' children were forced into 

 the breakers, and charged the union with at- 

 tempting to wreck the mines. On the stand Mr. 

 Mitchell upheld the demands of the strikers in 

 .full. He said he would not deprive non-union 

 men of the opportunity to buy necessaries of life ; 

 that he regarded the boycott as a strike; that 

 -he opposed injunctions, and held a contract to be 

 superior to a union constitution. There was no 

 way of punishing a member of his union, he said, 

 except by expulsion. He admitted that miners 

 should work at least eight hours a day, and said 

 they should each earn $600 a year. He also 

 admitted that many boys worked in mines to 

 support their parents, and wished that the age 

 limit might be raised from twelve to fourteen. 

 Part of the cost of increased wages, he agreed, 

 must be borne by the consumer. 'He presented 

 figures to show the low wage rates among an- 

 thracite miners 40 to 50 per cent, less than 

 those of bituminous miners. He virtually de- 

 nied the truth of a vast majority of the reports 

 of outrages during the strike. Some of the kill- 

 ing, he declared, was done by Coal and Iron 

 police, and some by non-union men, while some 

 alleged murders were, he believed, accidental 

 deaths. He admitted, however, that of the 14 

 men killed during the strike only 3 were members 

 of the miners' union. Dynamiting, he intimated, 

 was done by company men to create feeling 

 against the strikers. He denied knowledge of 

 many things for which he had been held respon- 

 sible, and of many that were matters of current 

 report. To the proposal of a separate union for 

 the anthracite miners he firmly objected. Mr. 

 Mitchell showed himself so skilful under cross- 

 examination that Mr. MacVeagh, attorney for 

 the mining companies, said to him: " You are the 

 best witness for yourself that has ever confront- 

 ed me." 



On Nov. 17 the non-union miners of the an- 

 thracite region filed with the commission their 

 demand for increase of wages, and that no limit 

 be put on hours of labor and earning capacity. 

 They vigorously protested against recognition of 

 the United Mine-Workers, recited their own 

 wrongs, and demanded freedom from persecution 

 and the right to sell their labor as they pleased. 

 Subsequently Judge Gray, for the commission, 

 announced that pending the hearing non-union 

 miners were not to be displaced nor interfered 

 with. 



Witnesses told of boycotting and violence as 

 the chief weapons of the strikers, of ill-treatment 

 of non-union men, of lack of discipline in the 

 union for prevention of such acts, of a reign 

 of terror in the strike region, the answer on 

 the union side commonly being a denial more or 

 less general. In the latter part of November 

 n attempt was made to reach an understanding 



without further action of the commission, but 

 this proved unsuccessful. At this time the " in- 

 dependents " were urging the coal companies to 

 maintain their stand against recognition of the 

 union. This they did, and were charged by the 

 miners' counsel with bad faith in connection with 

 the peace negotiations. Upon the operators' non- 

 recognition of the union, proceedings before the 

 commission were resumed. Several priests of the 

 coal-district testified for the miners. Serious 

 charges were made regarding the treatment of 

 miners by some of the " independents," who en- 

 deavored to refute them. There were pathetic 

 accounts of evictions and other hardships. 



The Delaware and Hudson Coal Company 

 showed that the average yearly wages of their 

 miners was $622.68. Other companies made sim- 

 ilar exhibits. Evidence was introduced to show 

 that miners as a rule are well paid, better than 

 many skilled laborers, that in the public schools 

 their children suffer no disadvantages as com- 

 pared with others, and that operators are in favor 

 of keeping children under age out of the breakers, 

 while some miners desire child-labor. Some of 

 the statements as to high wages were afterward 

 discredited. 



Recalled for cross-examination, Mr. Mitchell 

 said that he had tried to avert the strike, but 

 acknowledged that he could have prevented it by 

 a veto, and that union men could be punished 

 for offenses by withdrawal of charters or by sus- 

 pension. Samuel Gompers told of the benefits of 

 union labor, but limited his approval of the boy- 

 cott. The side of non-union men was presented 

 by witnesses who sustained the charges made in 

 the statement previously submitted, and told of 

 many injuries and outrages. Documentary evi- 

 dence showed 20 cases of union men found guilty 

 of crimes in connection with the strike. Gen. 

 Gobin testified to violence, terrorism, and out- 

 rage on men and women; to efforts of the union 

 to minimize the Shenandoah riot; to attacks 

 upon the troops; and to the utter inadequacy 

 of the soldiers to guard homes and other property 

 and protect workmen. The operators endeavored 

 to show that discontent and trouble were caused 

 by the union, and that before it came into the 

 field the relations of the men and their employers 

 had been satisfactory. The mines, it was said, 

 would have been ruined if pumpmen had gener- 

 ally obeyed the strike order. They denied Mr. 

 Mitchell's charge that they were hindering coal- 

 production, and declared that the union limits 

 the number of laborers and of cars. 



An outcome of the strike was the passage 

 Congress, Jan. 14, 1903, of a bill granting a re- 

 bate equal to the amount of duty on all imported 

 coal for a period of one year. 



The commission had heard an immense amount 

 of testimony, but had not ended its session at 

 the close of the year. 



SUBMARINE BOATS. Only in compa 

 tively recent years have the great nations of 

 world given serious attention to the subma 

 boat as a factor in naval warfare. But for man 

 centuries its possibilities have appealed' to invent 

 ors, and with persevering energy, against almost; 

 certain failure, they have accumulated the expe 

 rience that, with added means and a revival of in 

 terest, have enabled us to add another mechanical 

 triumph to the dawn of the twentieth century. 

 The first boat of which anything definite is knowr 

 was designed by William Bourne in 1604, but 

 never built. Cornelius van Drebbel built " a boal; 

 of wood," which was tried in 1624 in the presence 

 of King James I and numerous spectators. I'; 

 had a capacity for 15 persons, and was moved by 





