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THE ALABAMA STRIKE SITUATION.
The Alabama strike has been going on since
July 1, 1904, and has involved tremendous expenditures
and losses to both sides. T. L. Lewis, vicepresident
of the United Mine Workers, explains
the situation as follows:
"Two years ago an arbitration board, after a
thorough investigation of mining conditions,
awarded to the mine workers of Alabama: An
advance in wages, a semi-monthly pay-day, a ninehour
day and a rule to prohibit boys under fourteen
years of age from working in the mines.
When the furnace operators of Alabama met the
miners' representatives in joint convention in
June, 1904, it was evident that those operators
were determined to repudiate the award of the arbitration
board. The operators insisted on a
sweeping reduction in wages, a monthly pay-day,
a ten-hour day, and what they term, the 'open
shop' rule.
"These were the questions at issue that brought
on the strike now in existence at the Furnace
mines of Alabama. Men have been evicted from
their homes. Many men have been imported into
Alabama to take the places of those who are idle.
Injunctions have been issued against those on
strike. Thousands of dollars have been spent by
the United Mine Workers to assist the strikers.
Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent by
the operators to defeat their employes and whip
them into submission. The struggle goes on.
The miners of Alabama have made and are conducting
a magnificent struggle against tremendous
odds. The contest is in its second year, with no
immediate prospects of a settlement.
"The commercial operators of Alabama are
operating their mines under the conditions of the
award of the arbitration board rendered in 1903.
Why not the furnace operators do likewise? There
is in this country an organization known as the
National Civic Federation. One of its objects is
to bring employers of labor and employes together
to settle their differences. The Alabama mines
involved in the present struggle in that state are
owned by the U. S. Steel Corporation. Some men
closely associated with the U. S. Steel Corporation
are avowed advocates of the object of tne National
Civic Federation. There is a splendid opportunity
for the National Civic Federation to accomplish
tangible results in Alabama."
The Fairmont Coal Co., Fairmont, W. Va., has
secured a government contract to supply 50,000
tons of coal for the locomotives and other engines
used in the construction of the Panama railroad
and canal. The contract is to ue filled in six
months.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 29
ATTORNEY GENERAL DENIES THAT
UNION SUPPLY CO. RESTRAINS TRADE.
Attorney General Hampton L. Carson of Pennsylvania
has rendered an opinion denying a writ
of quo warranto against the H. C. Frick Coke Co.,
which is alleged to have been conducting a number
of company stores in the bituminous coal
regions in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The application
was filed with the attorney general by
two storekeepers in Fayette county last spring,
and has since been pending. The attorney general
says:
It is clear that nothing but a plain prima facie
case, based upon evidence, which, in the judgment
of the attorney general, could be reasonably submitted
to a court, would justify such drastic proceedings.
I have examined with care the evidence
submitted, and in my judgment there is
insufficient testimony to support the allegations
that the H. C. Frick Coke Co., or that the men
who own and operate the H. C. Frick Coke Co.,
are interested in, own and operate the Union
Supply Co., which is a corporation for the purpose
of conducting a general merchandise business,
and which does operate stores. Nor is
there, in my judgment, evidence that the employes
of the H. C. Frick Coke Co. are compelled
to patronize the said Union Supply Co., or that
the employes of the H. C. Frick Coke Co. are unlawfully
coerced to patronize the stores of said
Union Supply Co. It is insufficient to rest a
case on mere inferences from acts capable of
other interpretations and which are met by positive
denial.
There must be substantial and positive testimony
in support of each averment in order to
justify an interference. The discretion of the
attorney general must be exercised upon his own
sense of official responsibility, and cannot be commanded
as a pro forma matter upon the application
merely of citizens. In the case of Cheetham
et al. vs. McCormick, 178 P. S., 187, which defines
the powers of the attorney general in somewhat
similar proceeding under the act of May
7, 1887 (P. L. 94). it was held by the supreme
court that the attorney general had a right to
exercise a discretion in the matter and was not
a mere automaton. Besides this the remedy
sought in this application is to redress individual
and public wrongs, for which there would
appear to be adequate remedy. There is no interest
of the commonwealth involved. For these
reasons the application is refused.
The J. R. Crowe Coal Co., of Pittsburg, Kas.,
has purchased a tract of 115 acres of coal land at
Coalvale, Kas., from the B. S. Abbott Coal Co.