President Roosevelt Works to End Coal Strike
Nov 19 – write a journal entry about a major event during your ancestor’s life
Oct 23, 1902
President Roosevelt has proven his worth as a leader. The 163-day coal mine strike is finally over. Things have gotten quite ugly since the maintenance crews joined us miners back in June. Some strikers have gotten violent, attacking those who continued to go into work. If the company would only have done what is right two years ago during the last strike, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point. What we are asking for isn’t too much, simply fair wages and a reasonable work day.
Over the summer, President Roosevelt called representatives for both management and workers to the capitol to sit down and talk. The Commissioner of Labor, Carroll D. Wright talked to people in New York, including John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, and found legitimate issues on both sides. Unfortunately, the company owners disagreed and wouldn’t cooperate. The governor sent the state National Guard to maintain order, but there was little they could do but maintain order; of course they aren’t going to go into those mines and do our dirty, arduous jobs. Coal prices have been soaring and without us mining, a shortage was likely for the cold winter months. The President asked us to go back to work and then settle, but Mitchell believed that the company would never do right by us.
JP Morgan stepped in to mediate with both sides, coming to an agreement during a 5 hour meeting on his yacht:. All parties would agree to honor the finding of the soon-to-be-formed Anthracite Coal Commission. The process started with the commissioners visiting the mines to see the conditions in question.
We are asking for a 20 percent increase in pay and an 8 hour work day. We will see what happens, but I am hopeful.