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Author: 
 
 Harman, Frank 
 
 Title: 
 
 A review of the 
 Pocahontas strike and 
 
 Place: 
 ? 
 
 Date: 
 
 [1895] 
 
MASTER NEGATIVE # 
 
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 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET 
 
 ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 
 
 267 
 P754 
 
 Harman, Frank P 
 
 A review of the Pocahontas strike and its 
 causes from the operators* standpoint • By- 
 Frank P. Harman ••• Together with reply by 
 "Junius" t pseud. J [1896] 
 
 cover-title, 14 p, 23^. 
 
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 P754 
 
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 mtlieCtipofMrtugm* 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 School of Business 
 
 Given by 
 
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 4 
 
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 Bcbool of BnsiBets JiJbrary 
 
 Cohniibia University 
 
 APR 1 4 1943 
 
 ^7 «7,1943 
 
 A REVIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Pocahontas Strike and its Causes 
 
 FROM THE OPERATORS' STANDPOINT. 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK P. HARMAN, 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer of the Turkey Gap Coal and Coke Company^ 
 
 AND 
 
 Secretary of the Flat Top Coal Association, 
 
 Together with Reply 
 
 -^MUNIUS." 
 
 Ur 'Smk^M 
 
 Ci/i.<^:/v^ 
 
 t » ♦ » e 
 
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 • • « • 
 
 
 
 
 In the Roanoke Times May 2d, 1^95, reprinted in the 
 Bluefield Daily Telegraph, appeared the following article : — 
 
 THE OPERATORS' STANDPOINT. 
 
 Mr. Frank P. Harman, secretary and treasurer of the Tur- 
 key Gap Coal and Coke Company and secretary of the Flat 
 .Top Coal Association, makes the following review of the 
 strike and its causes : — 
 
 At and previous to May, 1893, the operators received for 
 running mine coal, which may be considered as a standard, 
 85 cents per ton. At that time the net price received was re- 
 duced to 75 cents per ton. Another reduction was made in 
 May, 1894, which brought the net price received per ton by 
 the operators to 72^ cents. This price prevailed up to May, 
 1895. Up to this time the wages paid by the operators to 
 the miners was 75 cents per carload for room coal and ;^i.05 
 per carload for entry coal, a carload weighing on an average 
 
 two tons. 
 
 The operators had stood these two reductions in the net 
 price received for coal, and had continued all the time paying 
 the same prices to the laborers. An effort was made to 
 maintain the 72j4-cent price, which, had it been successful, 
 would have had as a sequence the continuation of the old 
 wages paid to miners. 
 
 There are six companies known in that region as " rail- 
 road " companies, as follows: The Southwest Virginia Im- 
 provement Company, the Browning Coal and Coke Company, 
 the Houston Coal and Coke Company, the Crozer Coal and 
 Coke Company, the Upland Coal and Coke Company, and 
 the Pulaski Iron Company, who still claim to be running, 
 but as a matter of fact the number of men they are using 
 now amounts to a mere bagatelle. 
 
 These companies virtually own their coal lands. In other 
 words, the stockholders in these companies are also the share- 
 holders in the company that owns the lands, and conse- 
 quently their paying of royalties is like taking a dollar from 
 
^hool of Bn8ine»« Ubrtft 
 Colmnbiii UuiveraitJ 
 
 one pocket and putting it into the other. These companies 
 ITf ei: t T ''■''■'''' "^ ^°"*-'P'^*'"g the erecti^, ad 
 these '.iS""'"'"^ '"''''■"^^^- ^^^" ^'^■■^ '^ P-rf-ted. 
 that they work no nnners-only a few laborers at the ma- 
 chmes, and that they virtually pay „o royalties-sell coal Ta 
 profit, and at the same time pay the Norfolk and We ten 
 Railroad advanced freight rates. The coal of the six com 
 pames was offered to the railroad at 65 cents per ton 
 
 Ihe cut m the wages was 15 cents a carload, a car holding 
 two tons and the reduction in the price was 7^^ cents a ton 
 makmg the reductions identical, so that it can^be seen tl"e' 
 reduc ,on m the price paid would not result in any advantage 
 
 We tn E '"^H r """""'''' '"' °"'^ *° '""^ Norfolk and 
 Western Ra, road Company. The operators claim that the 
 
 advance m fre.ght rates compelled them to make this cut in 
 
 anIt,?"T,f ' '"'^ ^^'° ^"'''°"''' ^'^'"S the same coal 
 
 of th M f ,', '""' '''''"^^' ^"^ '^^'■"g '^-^'^t competitors 
 
 of the Norfolk and Western people, charged such freight rates 
 as to net the operators a handsome profit 
 
 The operators admit they have made money at the old 
 pr.ces, but to sell coal for^; cents per ton and pay the san e 
 
 buTess" ^°r^'>'-f «"- them all to close out th 
 busmess. They .say. ,t has been asserted by one of the hi^h 
 officals of the Norfolk and Western Railroad Compan^ tSkt 
 
 IratfrsTh M r '"1"'^' '"°''' ^"°"^^' '^^ 'hat th; op- 
 erators should be satisfied with the commissary gains alone 
 
 but the operators claim that such is by no meanTthe a e 
 
 The operators also assert that the railroad shares a large part 
 
 of the store profits by having recently raised freight rates 
 
 .on that the m.ners are compelled to purchase goods from 
 the comm,ssar,es, they claim, is not the fact, as no one i 
 compelled to deal at the company's store. As'the mineTa e 
 often provdent men, and as there are other stores, the trade 
 of the miners goes into various channels 
 It has been suggested that the failure of the Norfolk and 
 
 Western Railroad Company was due entirely to their un- 
 profitable branch lines, and not to the hauling of coal at low- 
 rates. 
 
 The agitation among the miners was very strong, and their 
 organization was thorough some time before the operators 
 notified them of the intended reduction in wages, and this 
 state of affairs was brought about, it is said, entirely by the 
 proposed use of the electrical mining machines by the six 
 companies referred to. 
 
 This gentleman told the Times reporter that he believed the 
 strike would be quite a durable one ; that the miners were in 
 possession of considerable money, as they had always been 
 paid well, and at this time of year they were not averse to 
 laying off for awhile. 
 
 They had been working steadily for a long time, and few of 
 them objected to going to the country to fish and hunt for 
 awhile. 
 
 In the Bluefield Baify Telegraph of the 4th instant appears 
 a " review of the strike and its causes from the operators' 
 standpoint," by Mr. Frank P. Harman, secretary and treasurer 
 of the Turkey Gap Coal and Coke Company and secretary of 
 the Flat Top Coal Association, and as the reading public will 
 by this time have digested his statements, it will be well be- 
 fore they draw their conclusions to hear something from 
 another " standpoint," which may tend to moderate their first 
 impressions and consider the matter in a fair and dispassion- 
 ate manner. 
 
 One would have thought that Mr. Harman, occupying the 
 position he does in this coal field, would have fully realized the 
 responsibility of anything he might say, and be especially 
 careful that his statements were strictly true, and give a plain, 
 ungarnished narration of facts. But he has proved painfully 
 disappointing, for a more complete list of misstatements was 
 never compiled. Everything calculated to give plausibility to 
 the "operators* standpoint" was given every prominence, 
 while anything capable of guiding the outside public in form- 
 ing correct ideas of the controversy were either lightly touched 
 
 i 
 
I 
 
 upon or om,tted altogether. Hence the necessity of some- 
 h,ng bang heard from the other side to prevent Mr. HaZan 
 from act,ng as both judge and jury in his own case 
 
 Mr. Harman begins by mentioning the several reductions 
 .n the pnce received by the operators from May. ,803 to 
 May 1895 and states that the price " at and previou to May 
 1893. was 85 cents per ton." Now that is not correct The' 
 pr.ce from May. ,889, to May. X893. was, for railroad toal 75 
 cent. t,dewater coal 75 cents on 300.000 tons, and 85 cent 
 on the remamder, which would net the operators an average 
 
 was not IsT '\ T' '?.""*" '" ^^>'' '^^i. the net priL 
 was not. as he states, reduced to 75 cents, but a larger quantity 
 
 red^'ceTthr "'^ "''' '" '^ ''" ^^"^^'^ "-P-'. which 
 reduced the average pnce somewhat, but kept it above 7C 
 
 their coal. Mr. Harman .s. however, correct in saying the 
 pnce was reduced in May. .894. to 72^ cents, and remained 
 
 (May. ,885) the wages paid to the miners was 75 cents oer 
 car for room coal and ^..05 per car for entry coll a ca load 
 we.ghmg on an average two tons." Now. Mr Harman knows 
 very well that in the early part of ,894 many if not all the 
 operators reduced the price of entry coal from ^, 05 o 95 
 cents per car. and forced the prop setting upon the mners' 
 And as for a mme car containing on an average " two tons " 
 o coal, .t would be interesting to know Mr. Harman's mZld 
 of calculatmg. One ton of Pocahontas run of mine coal oc 
 
 correct about an average car containing two tons then it fo! 
 lows that the capacity of the average mine car in' th s Id is' 
 about 84 cubic feet. We will follow this a little furthe 
 When the last strike occurred at the mines of the Sourwest 
 Company at Pocahontas, in .892. it was ascertained by the 
 company and a mmers' committee that the average caoacitv 
 was 79^ cubic feet, and contained by actual weigh' 3? „ 's 
 Th,s was the smallest car in the field, and a strike wasiused 
 by the company increasing the size to what was consid red 
 the standard-9a cubic feet. Now, on a basis of 42 cubic feet 
 
 to the ton, the Southwest Companys car having a capacity of 
 79^ cubic feet should only have contained 1.89 tons, whereas 
 it was found to contain 2}( tons. How came this difference 
 of more than one quarter of a ton? By compelling the 
 miners to give heaped up measure and load the cars more than 
 *• level full." Then, if the Southwest car, measuring 79^ 
 cubic feet, contained 2j{ tons of coal and was known to be 
 the smallest car in use, how much coal do the other cars in 
 the field contain when their capacities range from 92 to 120 
 cubic feet " level full " ? 
 
 If it is possible for Mr. Harman to be mistaken in his idea 
 of the capacity of the cars, let him give us the length, depth, 
 and cross section of the Turkey Gap car and allow the public 
 to calculate its capacity. If they find it to be as Mr. Harman 
 states, only a modest " two-ton " car measuring 84 cubic feet, 
 its dimensions have certainly shrunk below those of its fa- 
 mous ancestor which existed in the early history of the Tur- 
 key Gap operation. The few miners who survived the terrible 
 ordeal of loading that historical car to this day relate their 
 thrilling experience on one occasion of having shoveled coall 
 into it for nearly an hour without being able to see the coal 
 piling above the top of the car. The more they threw in the 
 more it devoured, until, completely exhausted, they told the 
 driver to " take the damned thing out," which he attempted 
 to do, but unfortunately it became tightly jammed between the 
 sides of the break through and could not be moved. The 
 mine boss was sent for, who, realizing the grave situation, 
 promptly summoned Commodore McQuail and his principals 
 to the scene. After a careful investigation was made evidence 
 was found of weak construction ; the sides of the car were 
 rather thin, and as the carpenter who built them had not been 
 instructed to put in a tie rod across the top of the car to 
 brace the sides, there was, of course, nothing to oppose the 
 least line of resistance, consequently when the coal was loaded 
 into the car it became inflated, like the frog in the fable. But 
 the aggregation of skill assembled on the spot was able to 
 cope with the difficulty, and the case resolved itself into a 
 choice between widening the break through and entry back to 
 
 
 * 
 
the drift mouth, or unloading some of the coal out of the car 
 As the first idea would entail months of expensive labor and 
 practically stop the mine, causing the price of the company's 
 stock to reach a low figure in the market, the latter alterna- 
 tive was reluctantly adopted and the miners ordered to unload 
 some of the coal which they did, causing the car at once to 
 regain Its normal shape. It was then hauled out of the mine 
 and the miners released from their imprisonment. This is 
 no legendary lore related by the miners to their families to 
 while away the long Winter evenings, but is an actual fact, 
 and this ,s how Commodore McQail came to be dubbed b; 
 the miners the *' Father of the Big Car " 
 
 Oh, but Mr. Harman will say, ''I speak of the average car 
 of the region; some cars will of course be smaller than 84 
 cubic feet, and a few might possibly be a trifle larger " Yes 
 but give us the dimensions of your Turkey Gap car to be 
 going on with ; this will give us some idea whether or not the 
 average car is going to figure out a " three-ton " car instead 
 of a two-ton. But we will not raise our expectations too hi^h 
 but be reasonable, and we have every reason to believe that 
 the average capacity of the mine cars in this field is 23/ tons 
 calculated up to the height they are compelled to be loaded' 
 To be sure the cars at the dififerent mines do not resemble each 
 other in shape," the coal seam getting thinner in the 
 direction of the North Fork and Bottom Creek, the height 
 of the cars had to be reduced. But what was lost in height 
 IS fully compensated for in additional length, and especially 
 width, as shown by the gauge of track at some of the mines 
 being as much as 4 feet wide, only 8^ inches narrower than 
 the standard-gauge railroads of the United States 
 
 Mr. Harman next gives a list of six companies which he 
 states virtually own their own coal lands and pay no royal- 
 ties. Now Mr. Harman knows perfectly well that is not 
 true. Probably Crozer's and Upland may do so, but as for 
 the remaining four, they do not own their own coal lands 
 but mine coal under royalty like the rest of the field And 
 as for most of these companies introducing electrical machin- 
 ery into their mines, surely that is no reproach to them It 
 
 is evidence of their having realized the fact that the day of 
 easy prosperity in this as in most other coal fields has passed; 
 that, owing to competition from without and within, they 
 must be able to conform to the altered condition of things and 
 keep abreast with the times ; that the successful operation of 
 coal mines is no longer an ordinary trade, admitting of loose 
 methods and rule-of-thumb calculations, but has now reached 
 the exactnessof a science. 
 
 We now come to the cut in wages Mr. Harman says the 
 operator have been forced to make, but as he does not men- 
 tion the cut made by the railroad company, this part of his 
 " review " is not very intelligible. The cut made by the rail- 
 road company is from y2}i cents to 65 cents, being 7j4 cents 
 per ton, or lO per cent., and Mr. Harman says the operators' 
 cut in wages is identically the same— 7]^ cents per ton— and 
 that no advantage will be gained by the operators, but only 
 by the railroad company. But why does Mr. Harman with- 
 hold the whole truth about the operators' cut in wages? Why 
 does he only mention the cut on the mine cars, which item 
 alone, according to his own figures, will offset the entire cut 
 of the railroad company ? Not a word does he tell the public 
 of the merciless cutting down of every other class of labor, 
 both inside and outside the mines, even extending to the coke 
 yards. Why, it has been carefully estimated that, should the 
 operators succeed in enforcing this scale of reductions, it will 
 amount to 20 per cent, and deduct from this the 10 per 
 cent, cut made by the railroad company, and the operators 
 will be 10 per cent, better off than before. And yet Mr. Har- 
 man has the audacity to circulate in the newspapers the out- 
 rageous statement that the two cuts of the operators and rail- 
 road company are " identical," and that the '' reduction in 
 the price paid would not result in any advantage to the oper- 
 ating companies, but only to the Norfolk and Western Rail- 
 road Company." And he and his colleagues, with an air of 
 extreme unction, endeavor to pose as benefactors before this 
 downtrodden portion of humanity, by telling them how 
 jealously they are guarding their interests, and in them and 
 them only will the miners find a bulwark against that devour- 
 ing vampire, the railroad company. 
 
 r* 
 
8 
 
 op™or?arl TT """' '"^■■-■■nded person ,o ask why the 
 
 ^crsiro:f;r:s:roXer\t-^^^^^ 
 
 pose is twofCd^ Firs, they were detail e luZZ^ 
 mZinZ T ' M ' '''°"'^' "'^^ *''^^^ should be ample 
 
 s w :,;;rb:nt^;rp7-- '" ^•^"'' ^^^-^ ^'^-^ p°- 
 thfs. but spoke it ;:„,; °''"''°" "^'^ "^^ ^^'='-^' °^ 
 
 rales are lower But „h, i ""'""""i. "» wonder Iheir 
 following, "van ,1 't "'^ '"'" S'""" " "" 
 
 Mr. Harman then meekly informs us th;if - fK. u 
 
 money at the old once. " i i, Tf ^^^ ^^''^ "^^^^ 
 
 / u uic oia prices. I should say thev haup w.f 
 
 rrare::^ixr.^::^Ht^"--^^ 
 
 investments now owned by men wh. '^''"''^" 
 
 business." But whv seektr T '° '^'"'^ °"' '^eir 
 
 forcing you out of business, I happen to know something of 
 the coal business, and what I say is this, those operators in 
 this field who have made the coal-mining business the busi- 
 ness of their life and properly understand it (I don't include 
 those raised in the whisky or merchandise business), having 
 a fair average thickness of coal seam and a reasonable supply 
 of cars, and are not able to put their coal on the railroad cars 
 at from 50 to 60 cents per ton, ought to go out of the busi- 
 ness at the earliest possible date, and let their trade be ab- 
 sorbed by those operators who are mining coal at those figures. 
 With the cost of mining at 55 cents f o. b. there is still a 
 profit of 10 cents per ton ; add to this the profits of the com- 
 missary, mine supplies, and house rents, and what does it 
 amount to ? You won't tell as I know. But you tell us that 
 one of the high officials of the Norfolk and Western Railroad 
 Company has stated that *'the store business produced profits 
 enough, and that the operators should be satisfied with the 
 commissary gains alone, but the operators claim that such is 
 by no means the case." Well, that goes to show he is a wide- 
 awake official, and has posted himself on both sides of the 
 question. Then Mr. Harman becomes very ridiculous by 
 saying " the railroad shares a large part of the store profits by 
 having recently raised freight rates from the markets to the 
 coal field 40 per cent." Store profits should not be considered 
 as such until freight charges have been taken into account. 
 But, Mr. Harman, suppose before we leave this subject of 
 commissary profits, which you have stated are very moderate 
 and a large share of which is devoured by the railroad, sup- 
 pose now you give us a list of a few of the articles you buy 
 and sell to the miners, together with the rate of profit, begin- 
 ning with, say, blasting powder, which you are buying delivered 
 at your mines, after the railroad has got its freight, at $1 per 
 keg, and which you sell to the miners at ^2.75, a profit of 
 175 per cent., and flour which you are buying delivered, after 
 the railroad company has got its freight, at ^3.75 a barrel, and 
 which you sell to the mines at $y and ^8, a profit of 8y per 
 cent, to 113 per cent., and numerous other articles yielding 
 the same rate of profit ; and please, don't forget your house 
 
 \l^ 
 
* 
 
 lO 
 
 rents, or I should say, " shack " rents, which range anywhere 
 from $5 to ^^8 per month, and cost you from ;^ioo to ;^I50 
 to build, yielding a profit of 60 per cent. Mr. Harman, if 
 you believe man has got a soul, that is destined for a future 
 existence of misery or happiness, according to his doings in 
 this life, what sort of a time of it do you imagine you and 
 some of your associates are going to have for growing fat on 
 the destitution of others ? But perhaps you don't believe in 
 such back-number fables, but have implicit faith in the potent 
 balm of Bob Ingersoll when the final twinge comes. 
 
 We are next informed by Mr. Harman that their employees 
 are not compelled to deal at the company's store, but are per- 
 fectly free to go to other stores. If a canvass was made of 
 this whole coal field how many fellow operators disposed to be 
 truthful would indorse Mr. Harman's statement ? Not one. 
 And how many of the thousands of employees could indorse 
 it ? Not one. But it must not be supposed that a notice is 
 posted warning the men to do all their trade in the company's 
 store. Oh, no. Nor do the operators have it specified in 
 their book of rules that they must return their earnings back 
 through the commissary. Certainly not. But various and 
 subtle are the means employed to gain their purpose. And 
 woe unto the poor fellow who at the month's end has too 
 much money coming to him, and has not spent to the satis- 
 faction of the company's storekeeper. 
 
 The failure of the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company, 
 says Mr. Harman, " is due entirely to their unprofitable 
 branch lines and not to the hauling of coal at low rates." 
 Then he means to say the statement submitted by the com- 
 pany to their stockholders is not true. Now, to convince 
 Mr. Harman his opinion is not shared by the world at large, 
 I give him the following from a review of the London stock 
 market : " The Norfolk and Western receivership did not 
 have as discouraging an effect as many expected, since the 
 cause of that company's troubles was pretty well understood. 
 At any rate the company has been frank with its security 
 holders and showed evidence of an intention to do right, in 
 marked contrast to the doubtful transactions which marked 
 
 II 
 
 the Reading bankruptcy, and the more than doubtful dishon- 
 esty shown in the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe." So the 
 European stockholders had faith in the veracity of the com- 
 pany. And for further demonstration of their truthfulness let 
 us search for evidence nearer home, and what do we find ? 
 A railroad company with its enthusiasm aroused and energies 
 sustained in a conviction of the unbounded mineral wealth of 
 the vast section of country it controlled, doing all in its 
 power to foster and develop its industries, removing every 
 obstacle to the expansion of trade, and keeping its haulage 
 charges down to the lowest possible limit. Mr. Harman him- 
 mon himself does not forget how often during the severe de- 
 pression of trade that followed the iron furnace companies 
 along the line asked for concession after concession to enable 
 them to continue their declining business, and which were 
 promptly made until a point was reached below which it 
 would have been ruinous to go. And when the last conces- 
 sion was asked for the railroad company positively stated that 
 unless part of it was borne by the operators supplying coke 
 they could not make it. And what a mournful wail passed 
 through those operators when asked to do this, although at 
 that time they were making a profit of 7 to 12 cents per ton 
 on their coke, not including commissary profits and house 
 rents accruing from their coke department. And what has 
 been the result of such generous policy on the part of the 
 railroad company which was extended to the coal trade as 
 well ? Financial embarrassment and vituperation and abuse 
 from those who were assisted in amassing princely fortunes. 
 
 Aftersight is always surer than foresight, and the railroad 
 company, being only human, may have undertaken things 
 which, as proved by subsequent events, were not wise. But 
 where does the man exist so endowed with prescience that 
 he can tell with exact precision what is going to happen? 
 So, therefore, the work of a critic is very simple, but his work 
 is not complete until he has suggested an alternative remedy. 
 
 Deliberate aim is next taken at our nerves by Mr. Harman 
 in informing us the agitation amongst the miners is "very 
 strong" and their organization "thorough." And then he 
 
 
 
<l! 
 
 *■ 
 
 r 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 12 
 
 makes the absurd statement that "this state of affairs was 
 brought about entirely by the proposed use of electrical min- 
 ing machines by the six companies referred to." Perhaps if 
 he would, Mr. Harman could give us some interesting details 
 concerning this organization amongst the miners. It is cer- 
 tainly to be hoped Mr. Harman and his associates will in 
 the near future find this organization a little too strong and 
 thorough for the smooth running of their commissary and 
 tnree-ton mine cars, and their evasion of the scale law. 
 
 Mr. McBride and his fellow agitators must have been 
 amazed on their recent arrival in the field at the altered con- 
 dition of things, by finding themselves received with smiles 
 and allowed to hobnob with the operators. Very different 
 treatment from that they received in this field last Summer 
 during the northern strike, when they were chased from op- 
 eration to operation by a gang of armed toughs, and on one 
 occasion one of their party was waylaid at night and " sand- 
 bagged " by a paid hireling of one of the operators. But the 
 agitators are now here, and it is more than probable they will 
 leave some lasting footprints behind them. But how success- 
 fully the agitators and miners are being gulled and hood- 
 winked by the subtle operators, who, after throwing dust in 
 their eyes, are pouring into their ears every kind of false 
 reasoning, arousing their passions and prejudices and direct- 
 ing them on to the railroad company. Down with the rail- 
 road company is the slogan of these valiant men. Close 
 down the mines, is their cr>-, and victory is yours; then this 
 oppressive railroad company, with its perfidious Receivers, 
 wreckers of our fortunes and yours, will be no more! And 
 while these poor, misguided men are under the excitement 
 of this din and clatter, the 'cunning operators are stealthily 
 drawing into the background such burning grievances as their 
 commissary, mine cars, and scale question, and thereby di- 
 verting this long-expected uprising into another channel, and 
 making the railroad company the scapegoat. 
 
 Surely these misguided men will not be long before they 
 tear this bandage from their tyes and see daylight once more, 
 and realize they are treading a dangerous pathway. If they 
 
 
 13 
 
 do not, there is but one end to it— they will find themselves 
 poorer and more destitute every day, and, finally, have to re- 
 turn helpless and impoverished to the bondage of their old 
 taskmasters, who will stir their fires and heat their pincers 
 afresh for another long term of cruel oppression. Is there then 
 no possible escape for these men from such a wretched exist- 
 ence ? There is but one, and that is to first turn a deaf ear to their 
 present evil counsellors, quit their cruel bondage forever, and 
 seek a place where a better reward will meet their honest toil. 
 There are five of the largest operations where no cut in wages 
 is being made, and whose men have therefore no cause for 
 complaint. These five mines, if worked to their full capacity 
 can accommodate all the miners of the region and furnish all 
 the coal the market needs. There will be no broken time and 
 the car supply good and constant, and greater than all is the 
 advantage of being paid the old rate of wages. No 20 per 
 cent, cut at these mines. On May ist, when the strike began, 
 it was expected these five mines would continue at work, but 
 owing to the exertions of Mr. Harman and his fellow opera- 
 tors the miners at four of these mines were so intimidated 
 they dare not go to work. One of these mines was not ex- 
 pected to work, for although the owner had declared it should 
 work and no cut be made in wages, some of his under oflficials 
 were known to be in sympathy with the striking operators. 
 The result was that only one operation started work, the 
 southwest mines at Pocahontas, and continued until last Mon- 
 day, when, as a result of a strikers* meeting the day previous 
 (Sunday), many of their men were induced to stay at home. 
 That mine is working, but with a reduced number of men ; 
 the company claims, however, that large numbers of other 
 miners have applied for work, and that unless the absentees 
 return at once they will be paid off and new men put in their 
 places. 
 
 Mr. Harman concludes his so-called " review " by predict- 
 ing the strike will be "quite a durable one," and then treats 
 us to a lot of balderdash about the miners having consider- 
 able money and able to retire to the country to hunt and fish. 
 It is quite possible the strike may prove a very durable one 
 
 r 
 
^ i J 
 
 to those operators who are solely responsible for it, and they, 
 instead of the miners, may have an opportunity of retiring to 
 the country to hide their heads in shame and chew the cud 
 of their reflections. If they are compelled to remain there 
 and close up their business in the coal field, so much better 
 for the coal field and the community. 
 
 But the strike is not going to last very long at the mines of 
 those operators who have acted with gentlemanly decency, 
 and it will not be long before they are joined by numerous de- 
 serters from the camp dominated by Mr. Harman and his 
 clique. Harmony does not prevail amongst them by any 
 means, and many of the operators were only brought into line 
 by the strongest kind of coercion. For a long time they have 
 been restive under an unbearable despotism, but now they see 
 many of their associates besmeared with treason and conspir- 
 acy of the very worse kind they will jeave their ranks in dis- 
 gust. Add to this the force of public sentiment when it has 
 grasped the whole truth of this matter, and the awakening of 
 the miners to the way in which the seductive operators have 
 led them astray, and that will see the last of what will here- 
 after be known as the " Operators' Strike of 1895." 
 
 JUNIUS. 
 
 L' 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the 
 expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as 
 provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- 
 ment with the Librarian in charge. 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 C18<1141)m100 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
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 P764 
 
 Hannan, Frank P. 
 
 A review of the Pocahontas strike 
 and its causes from the operators' 
 standpoint* 
 
 t 
 
 7)^ ^7 
 
 M^\\ OOX^^ FEB 2 51994 
 
 NOV 2 fi 19^^ 
 
END OF 
 TITLE