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Outlook Seems Dark

Outlook Seems Dark image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
July
Year
1897
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Chicago, july 13. - Jüach day accentuates the prospect of a long and bitter strugg-Ie between owners of and employés in the soft coal mines. Arbitration halts. Organization on both sides continúes. The number of miners at work in each of the states affected by the strike is steadily dwindling. The pressure for fuel grows stronger, with ascending prices. An example of the activity of the railroads in preparing for a prolonged cestiöh of mining is given in following' special dispatèhes: ; ■ KAnllaJfee, IMs.-eXhe Illinois. Cejitral is new hauling-i jong. qf emfjty coal cars south atid making e-very effjrt to getthem loaded. Orders have been issued to shop men to repair coal cars fïrst, regardless of other exigencies. At the Kankakee junction coal bins are full and coal is being unloaded on the ground. The railroad intends to be prepared in case a general strike results. Godsend to the Railways. Bloomington, Hls. - The determination of the miners in the local shaft not to join in the general strike is a godsend to the Chicago and Alton, Lake Erie and Western and Big Four railroads. The lines of the three roads pass the local mine and they are taking every pound of coal obtainable from the company. The Lake Erie and Western has sent all the cars it can secure to this city to be flJled with coal and it is likely that the entire western división will have to be supplied from here. The strike at Danville has compelled all engines of the Peoría and Eastern división of the Big Four to stop here for fuel and other divisions may cali for sorae of the local product. The Alton Is taking all the coal it can get here and is hauling many cars from the mines in Missouri. The latter road is now paying nearly $1 a ton more for coal than it did a month ago, and the strike will cost the company an immense sum. The Lake Erie and Western has had a contract with the local mine foryears, and the price is unchanged. The Big Four pays the same rate as the Chicago and Alton. Railroads Not Considered. The miners here agreed to work on providing the company would not sell to outside parties. Evidently the railroads are not considered in that connection, as there is no complaint by the employés. Every man has been given work that applied, and many of the men are working overtime. As the local mine will soon be one of the few mines in the state working it is likely that great pressure will be brought upon the miners here to go out. At present there is every likelihood that they will be deaf to all entreaties to join the general strike. Pittsburg sends word that "the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal company has refused to meet the arbitrators, and this practically kills the arbitration plan." A Columbus correspondent quotes President Ratchford as saying: 'The suspension is more complete today than at any time since the suspension began. There is not a murmur of discontent among the miners; every change adds strength to our forces. The states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and western Pennsylvania are completely tied up with but very few exceptiona. One week from the present time will see the state of West Virginia also tied up, as well as a few scattered mines in other places." Realizing a Good I'i-ofit. Louisville, Ky., coal dealers are now shipping steam and domestic coal to Chicago and other lak peints and realizing a good profit on it. There are between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 bushels of Pittsburg river coal in the Louisville harbor, and 2,000,000 bushels of Kentucky coal are in the city yards. Wheeling, W. Va., reports that the 25.000 miners in the state all are busily at work, with the exception of 700 or 800 men in the organized district in the panhandle counties. Governor Mount of Indiana says that his sympthy is all with the strikers in the present contest between the operators and miners. He is investigating his authority as chief executive to take a hand in "the struggle, and if he sees his way clear will appoint an investigating commission. The governor's action in that event will depend upon the report of the cömmission from actual contact with the strikers.

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News