The Coal Miner's Strike

The strike of the coal minera in theaathraeite coal región of Pennaylvtmia still continúes. Eaoh sido is desperate and determined, and eaeh, nnv that the crisis of the struggle scmis to be approaohing, is drawiag upon au .som-ces i'or material ! to continue tho warefare. We have already several time made editorial refer'11. -o to this remarkable contest ; but the pematence with whiohit is still waged, and the gimuitic seale to whieh it has extended, justify a moro extended history of its canses ana events. The strike bogan rarly in January of tho present ycar, and has now boen kopt up bout fonr montos. The year oponed with i notioeable, and fox years nnpreoedented, dullneas in the anthraoite coal trade. Tho ñnancinl stringenoy luid stopped much maohitiefy, theweathet of the seftson had been unusüally milil, and, the consuniption beÍM thu's onusnally liglit, vast stocks hnI %ceuuiulatc.l and the trade was glutted. Tho Schuylkill Coal Exchange, takmg these fncts inte auconnt, voted, early in January, to decreaso tho wages of coal mi'icrfi 20 per cent, from the ratos of 1874. Some rcduction wiw certíiinly not iinreasonable, lindar the ciroamstances, and, if thoconlowners and tho miuei-3 had shown tho the proper spirit of compromiso, an amieable arrangement miglit havo been reached. But instead of this tho ojioiators bluntly announeed to the men that a fécluction of Ü0 per cent. had boen resolved upon and ivas imperativo, and (lic minors, almost immediat'-ly, responded to the roduction by a striksl t is charged that this result was anticipatod and oven desirod by the operators, who knew that tho minors, dissatisfted with tho wages oí 187-1, would be sttre to rebel against any reduction whatever ; and who, perhaps, thonght that the present time, when the evccumulated stock would laat half a year, and a strike would, in tho end, benefit thom somewhat by ÜKsreasing prieos, was the most aus})icious for final and determínate strnpfglo witk the power of tho Miner's Union, which bad exerted so powerful nnd annoying nu interfereooe with the management of tlioir mines for the past dozen years. Whetber the charge ia well fovraded or not, the capitalista certainly took no pnins to conciliato or compromise with the nniona, who, in their turn, aecepted the proposed rüductiou as a gauge of battle, and entered iuto tho contest at onee. The strike,once begun,rapidly extended frome mine to mine until it has taken in the whole Schuylkill and Lehigh regions. The men in the Lackawanna and Wyoing ooal-fields have refused to strike, but the miners out of woik number now over 40,000, xnd the persoas dependent upon i them at least 200,000. Theso men have been out of work for perioda ranging from two t four months. 'The natural result of such contest, whero uneducated and imbrutod men find themselves in a hopeless ind exasperatiug conflict with a hated power, was violence, arson, murder, and a riot of crime of all kinds. Tho telegraphie dispatches have given U8 frequent and full deseriptions of the lawlessnoss and outrage prevalent Uu-oughout thifl whole región, and we have editorially commented upon it. Not only have miners who wished to work been prevented from doing so, by threats, violence and even murder ; not only havo the pumps of mines been atopped, and laborers engagod in snbduing lires driven off, thus coutinuing mino floods and mino fires wliich will deetroy millions of property, and postpone the resumption of work for months, even though an agreemont shouM be immediateíy arrived at ; but the idle and sullen workmen havo showu themselves opt at general crime, and larceny, highway robbety, hrson, rapo and murder have beoomo frightfully common. The civil authority was powerless or oient, as our readers know, a final resort I was had to the military arm of the State government, and actual riot and violence was temporafrily suppressed by the presence of two or three thousand soldiers. The best informed correspondents say that if tho military is withdrawn bofore the strike is ended, ouo way or the nther, violence, rapiñe and terrorrém will break out sevon tim(K worse than beforo, and tha last state of that rogion will be worse than the first. There are iudications, howovcr, thal the strike is nearing its clce. A critica! pom! has evidently been leached. Tho resources of tho miaers are almost exliausted. The retail dealers of the región Hot darfd to refosetkpin credit, for I no retailer who did so could ever hope to do business with miners again ; but their own credit willi the wholesal'j merchante of Now York and Philadelphia has been worn out, their sleeveS sre bare, and they have no mony to iay their debta or buy freah goods.' The miners, too, ave at the end of their purse, and, though they have sent agenta throughout the whold country, and have recoived considerable aid from unions oí olher ! trades, tl ie_v havo not means to crry on the light much longer. There are iuternal divisions and bickerings among them, nnd th; olücei-8 of the National Mifiers' Union, which planned, organized and caii'ied on the strike, are now beinf{ ronndly abosad, and charged with being lu active coHusion with the mine oavihth themselves. On the otlier hand the capitalista are beginning to fee] the pinch. The latenesB and seVerity of the season has made an unexpected iitóü upon the stocks of anthraeit", and there is fear of an actual eoal famine in Philadelphia. Mcanwhile th pressurt upoá the Local buuks of the, Schuylkill from all classes, miners, owners and merchants, has been very haavy, and some stariüng local financial cruahes ure predicted. In Eafct every industry and iuteresst of the whole section lias been impoverished aiid drained of lifo by the long struggle. Jt is evidently near ts end. When it is over, it will be iu structive for both sides to sit down and couut lip its oost - ite reckless and ohm waste. -