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(CONTINUED PBOM PACE 29).
want to win in the contest by an exposition of the
trutn, if possible, or by sophistry if necessary.
To argue, in this instance, will do no good, because
it will not help the situation. To reason
about it will help the situation and it will help
him who reasons. If the statement be correct,
then it is infinitely better to admit it and try to
remedy it than to deny it and seek to gloss it over
by adroit argument. Far better give this statement
the benefit of a doubt than assume its falsity
and refuse to lend a hand in correcting it. The
statement may be absolutely true and honest
labor leaders may even go so far as to admit that
it is the truth, and the truth mildly told. The
question, therefore, arises: How can the conditions
complained of be remedied? Is it possible
to do it by moral suasion? Is it possible to do
it by mere argument? We believe that the situation
can be improved, but do not believe that the
evils complained of can be corrected so long as
only one party to the agreement has the advantages
either for good or for evil that tlie United
Mine Workers of America enjoy at the present
time. In making this declaration it is not with
organized labor. It is not with the idea of chargorganized
labor., It is not with the idea of charging
them with being worse than the representatives
of capital or of the employer class. It is
only fair to say—because it is absolutely true—
that if the situation were reversed conditions
would be just as bad unless the other side were
restrained by considerations of self-interest. Selfishness
of human nature must not be overlooked
or ignored. In animates alike the rich and the
poor, the high and the low, the man who labors
and the man who directs labor. What, then, is
the remedy? There is but one remedy and we
need not go far to seek it. It is to make both
parties to the system of joint agreements as
nearly as can be equally strong. A strong organization
on the one side must be brought face
to face with a strong organization on the other
side, and when this has been acomplished neither
side will dare take any short cuts or unscrupulous
advantage in order to secure benefits to which they
are not entitled, because the other side will not
permit it. If it is industrial peace that the
American people desire then it is not a question
of union or non-union, a question of joint agreements
or a question of refusing to do business
through a third party, but it is merely a question
of being strong enough to exact and to maintain
your rights. It needs no prophet's eye to see
what capital will do ten years hence, for it will
organize as labor has organized unless by waiting
ten years it has waited too long. The time to
organize, the time to provide the machinery with
which serious industrial conflicts are to be averted,
if nation-wide calamity is not to result, is the
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 15
present. Conservative men are too slow in adopting
what is necessary, and unfortunately too many
of them can only be convinced by waiting till taey
have suffered from evi.s which are the result of
their indifference—and indifference is only another
name for conservatism.
If the employer class will organize, and organize
along the right lines, with a sincere desire
and a firm determination to be just, and to deal
with labor as it should deal with labor, and as
labor has a right to expect, then such an organization
of the employer class, however powerful,
will do lalior no harm, but, on the contrary, will
be its greatest, if not its only protection; for if
it has only its strong union to defend it has back
of it that agent only which, unchecked, may be
the very cause of organized labor's undoing.
These things bear directly on the conference of
bituminous coal mine operators which will be
caded to order at the Auditorium Hotel at ten
o'clock a. m., November 22. and will be an event
of interest to the bituminous eoal industry
throughout the land.
O'GARA COAL CO. OF CHICAGO.
Seventeen companies, operating 25 bituminous
coal mines in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and West
Virginia, have been consolidated under the name
of the O'Gara Coal Co. of Chicago with a capitalizauon
of $6,000,000. ihe consolidation was
brought about through the efforts of T. J. O'Gara,
who was chosen president. James E. Ward of
Chicago is the secretary, and Walter B. Kerr
of New York is the treasurer. The companies
consolidated have a daily output of over 25,000
tons, and are as follows: Eldorado Coal & Coke
Co., Diamond Coal Co., Harrisburg Mining & Coal
Co., the New Coal Co., Clifton Coal Co., Morris
Coal Co., Egyptian Coal Co., and the Carriers'
Mills Coal Co., all in Saline county, Illinois; the
Green Ridge Mining Co., the Jefferson Mining
Co., and the Big Muddy Mining Co., in the Springfield,
111., district; the Lincoln Coal & Mining Co.,
the Vivian Coal Mining Co., the Summit Mining
Co., the Staunton Mining Co., all in Indiana; the
Imperial Mining Co. of Cambridge, O., and the
O'Gara Coal Mining Co. of Fairmont, W. Va.
With the commencement of business by this company
the well known firm of O'Gara. King & Co.,
passes out as an active factor in Chicago's coal
business, all its interests having been taken over
by the O'Gara Coal Co.
Wheeling $1.50 Sunday Excursions.
Pennsylvania Lines—Two Trains.
Wheeling Sunday Special leaves Pittsburgh
Union Station 7:0u A. M., Central time; parlor
car train 8:20 A. M. Excursion tickets good on
both.