Download The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902
BY
ROBERT J. CORNELL, O.PRAEM., M.A.
NEW YORK/RUSSELL fcf RUSSELL
3o
PRE1
COPYRIGHT, 1957, BY
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, INC.
REISSUED, 1971, BY RUSSELL & RUSSELL
A DIVISION OF ATHENEUM PUBLISHERS, INC.
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
L. C. CATALOG CARD NO: 72-143556
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
At the dawn of the twentieth
United States was making slow,
that stood in the way of effective
formidable. Exaggerated indivic
American thought. Governmenta
ness-controlled Republican Part
sympathetic to the labor movemer
from southern and eastern Europ
the nineteenth century had resultc
origins, languages and living stai
The lack of sufficient capable lea
radicalism in the labor movement
in the labor struggles of the last
public had come to associate lab(
and radicalism. Employers on th<
ing movements among their emplc
agitators.
Industrialists and financiers, or
privileged groups which directed
to monopoly which had reached st
the public had demanded and se
again in full force. The vaguene
legislation and the disintereste<
charged with its enforcement as i
of such laws by the courts, left tl
the financiers, free to effect mor
consolidations.
The American laboring man wa
and the dominant political party
had ever enjoyed greater prospei
1900 directed by Senator Mark I
diverted attention away from the <
by voicing a plea for the continu;
CONTENTS
riONS
PAGE
ile, Reading Company, PhilaCHAPTER
deration of Labor, Washingof Congress
listorical Society of Wisconconsin.
Archives and Manuscripts of
of Congress
ient of Archives and Manunerica
rtment of Justice Files, NaCongress
gress
ingress
I. THE BATTLEGROUND AND EARLY BATTLES ______
1
II. THE FULL-DINNER-PAIL VICTORY OF 1900 _____ 38
III. THE COLD COAL WAR ________________ 60
IV. JUNE AND JULY MANEUVERS _____________ 95
V. LATE SUMMER ATTACKS AND COUNTERATTACKS __ 123
VI. THE PUBLIC TAKES SIDES ______________ 143
VII. THE PRESIDENT INTERVENES _____________ 173
VIII. ROOT TAKES A HAND ________________ 207
IX. THE COMMISSION DECIDES ______________ 236
BIBLIOGRAPHY __________________________ 260
INDEX _____________________________ 271
•1
a
THE BATTLEGRO
Nature set the stage for o
of American labor history
eastern Pennsylvania with ;
deposits in the United Stat
century a combination of ra
ures, secured virtual posses
of another major industry i
time anthracite had become
fuel, especially in the states
consumed about eighty per
When one of the prominei
decided to do battle with th
was of great national import
At the opening of the tv
which was the scene of the
embraced a territory of ab
490 square miles were a<
measures. Located mainly
Schuylkill and Northumbei
of the total area fell into foi
ern basin extended in the f
Susquehanna County to I
embraced a total area of ab<
of which was drained by th
section by the Susquehann
'Harry H. Stock, The Penn.
the Tivcnty-second Annual Re
1901 (Washington: Governmen
incuts of anthracite in 1899 n
734,886 were consumed in the
Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Isl;
CHAPTER 1
THE BATTLEGROUND AND EARLY BAT
TLES
Ji
R f.
JIM I i
II iI! J11
sIi
•i 2
f!
Nature set the stage for one of the
great struggles in the annals
of American labor history by end
owing a small area of northeastern Pennsylvania with a practica
l monopoly of the anthracite
deposits in the United States. By
the beginning of the twentieth
century a combination of railroad inte
rests had, by various measures, secured virtual possession of
this area giving them control
of another major industry in the Am
erican economy, for by this
time anthracite had become an importa
nt commercial and domestic
fuel, especially in the states along the
northeastern seaboard which
consumed about eighty per cent of
the total annual production. 1
When one of the prominent labor
organizations in the country
decided to do battle with this huge
combine the resulting struggle
was of great national import with sign
ificant political repercussions.
At the opening of the twentieth cen
tury the anthracite region,
which was the scene of the battle betw
een these contending forces,
embraced a territory of about 3,30
0 square miles, but less than
490 square miles were actually und
erlain with workable coal
measures. Located mainly within Lac
kawanna, Luzerne, Carbon,
Schtiylkill and Northumberland Cou
nties, the productive portion
of the total area fell into four distinct
geological fields. The northern basin extended in the form of a
crescent from Forest City in
Susquehanna County to Shickshinny
in Luzerne County and
embraced a total area of about 176 squ
are miles, the upper portion
of which was drained by the Lackaw
anna River and the southern
section by the Susquehanna. To the
south of this basin lay the
1 Harry H. Stock, The Pennsylvania
Anthracite Coal Field, extract from
the Tiventy-second Annual Report
of the U. S. Geological Survey,
19001901 (Washington: Government Prin
ting Office, 1902), p. 103. Total ship
ments of anthracite in 1899 numbere
d 47,665,203 long tons of which
36,734,886 were consumed in the state
s of Pennsylvania, New York,
New
Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
and Massachusetts.
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