History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604

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The supply of coal from all the regions in 1866 was 12,432,835 tons-an excess of the extraordinary amount of 2,945,097 tons over the supply of the previous year. Of this excess 923,918 tons were from the Schuylkill re- gion. Notwithstanding the large production, the Schuyl- kill operators, in consequence of the high rates of trans- portation and the great shrinkage in the price of coal, did not find their business profitable. At the auction sales in New York the prices of coal declined between January and December over $4 per ton, and at Port Rich- mond the decline was during the same period $3 per ton. The usual consequences of an oversupply affected the market after the first of September. The operators were unable during this year to reduce the cost of coal in pro- portion to its shrinkage in value. The high prices of all the necessaries of life made it impossible to reduce the wages of common labor, and the miners offered :t resist- ance, combined and powerful, to any reduction. The re- duction in the price of coal, having been greater than on any other article, bore heavily on the operators.

The downward tendency of the prices of coal continued through 1867. Sales at Port Richmond averaged for the year $4.37 per ton, as against $5.80 in 1866. The auc- tion sales in New York averaged for stove coal $2 less per ton than in the previous year. The market for Schuylkill coal at competitive points was reduced to a supply of what other regions could not furnish, unless furnished at a loss which reduced the trade to a deplor- able condition. The effect of the adverse condition of the trade was a loss of coal tonnage during the year of 592,645 tons by the transporting companies from the Schuylkill region.

The gloomy prospects of the Schuylkill trade in 1867 caused great concern and apprehension among the opera- tors early in the season and a renewal of interest in a new, direct and independent outlet to the New York and eastern markets. The " Manufacturers and Consumers' Anthracite Railroad Company " was chartered in March, 1866. A powerful effort was made in its behalf, but failed of procuring the necessary support.

The occurrence of a turnout in the Schuylkill region, beginning about the ist of July, 1868, and ending about the Ist of September-the object being the establish- ment of the eight hours system of labor-saved the trade of that year from disaster by curtailing the supply of

The depression in the trade continued until about the Ist of August, when business began to revive, the de- mand for coal improved and prices advanced. The turnout in the Lackawanna region, which caused a total cessation of mining for about ten weeks, alarmed con- sumers during its progress, and stimulated the demand coal during the suspension about 600,000 tons. At the to a degree that overtaxed the productive and transport-| New York auction sales the price for stove coal was

THE WORKINGMEN'S COMBINATION.

$5.05 in July, and in October it was $9.05, receding in in two years many of them were virtually driven out of December to $6.50. The speculative and extravagant the business. The Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company was compelled by the destructive ten- dency of the acts of the miners to engage in the business of mining, in order that the production of coal might continue to meet the requirements of the market. The threatened disaster toward which the Schuylkill coal trade was gravitating was thus averted, and the mad con- spirators, too powerful for the individual operators, were held in check by that powerful corporation. A stubborn and prolonged contest ensued, culminating in the strike of 1875, which terminated in the complete defeat and overthrow of the Workingmen's Benevolent Associa- tion. price for stove coal manipulated at the auction sales of Scranton coal taxed consumers heavily and proved det . rimental to the permanent interests of the producers. It created an excitement in the trade, and induced the operatives at the mines to demand prices for work that could not be afforded for any length of time, and which once granted could not be easily reduced to a fair basis after the prices of coal had receded. The men claimed participation in every rise and exemption in every fall. The strike for the eight hours system of labor-which meant eight hours' work for ten hours' pay, and amounted to twenty per cent. advance in wages-was conducted with mob demonstrations, by raiding through the region, driving men from their work, and stopping collieries. The movement was a failure, the ten hours system pre- vailing, but an advance in the price of coal having re- sulted from the suspension of work, a corresponding advance in wages was paid.

WORKINGMEN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION.

The organization of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association on the 23d of July, 1868, followed very closely the violent demonstration made on the eight hour question, and the conception of such a combination was no doubt due to the excitement growing out of that event ; it was then made apparent to the designing men who manipulated the whole affair that a union of the working classes could be formed, through which great power, influence, and pecuniary profit could be made to On the 29th of April, 1869, the executive committee of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association ordered a general suspension of work, to take place on the roth of May. The design was to suspend through all the regions and to continue three weeks, but the men in the Lacka- wanna region did not join the movement, the effect of which was to prolong the suspension. On the 9th of June, the general council of the association ordered that on and after June 16th " all districts and branches which can agree with their employers as to basis and conditions of resumption do resume work." The result of the suspension was a removal of the excess of coal in accrue to themselves by arraying labor against capital. The title assumed by the association was a misnomer and a deception to begin with ; the true object being not benevolence, but a purpose to establish and maintain a high standard of wages, to get control of the property and the management of the mines and to give effective force and aggrandizement to their proposed aggressive movements against the coal operators. Had their object been to extend beneficial aid to their members who were sick, disabled, or unfortunate, it would have been a very exemplary charity, worthy of commendation ; but we be- lieve the only contributions made by it in support of the the market compared with the supply of the previous members were during strikes precipitated by the leaders, year, with a deficiency of 105,809 tons. The curtailment amounted to 818,541 tons, of which 469,363 tons were from the Schuylkill region. If the average value of this coal at the shipping ports in the region was $2.70 per ton, the loss to the Schuylkill region was $1,267,280.

when small sums were doled out in order to prolong the contest. The power lodged in the officers was in its exercise deleterious and oppressive to the laboring classes, a blight upon their industry, a tax upon their earnings, a hindrance to their comfort and welfare, and a fruitful source of poverty, privation, and distress. The aggressiveness of this association against the rights of the proprietors of the collieries was practiced unceasingly; one exaction after another was imposed; the control of the mining department of the business was usurped by the "committee men," and their constant in- terference and frequent interruption of the works entailed a great loss to the operators. They were unable to sus- tain themselves against the successive strikes of the miners instigated by the leaders of the association, and

The year 1869 was notable for the excitement and agitation that prevailed throughout the anthracite coal regions, induced by the aggreisive movements of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association or Miners' Union. This state of things caused prolonged interruptions in mining, threatening a short supply of anthracite. The measures introduced by these leaders were a suspension of mining for three weeks, with the osten ible object of depleting the market of the stocks of coal lying over, and the establishment of the "basis system," by which wages were to be regulated by the prices of coal. In attempt- ing to adjust the basis a difficulty was encountered between the men and their employers, the miners de- manding more for their work as a starting point, than the prices of coal would warrant, in the opinion of the operators.

The Schuylkill operators, not knowing the practical operation of the basis system, agreed to try it as an ex- periment, providing that there should be no " illegitimate interference with the working of the collieries." The conditions of resumption having been agreed upon by the parties, and an assurance having been given on the question of interference that no such right was claimed by the miners' association, work was resumed in the Schuylkill region. The basis accepted by the operators was proposed to them by the leaders of the Miners' Union, and it met with considerable opposition from many

HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

operators ; but as all other efforts to control the trade had failed, and it might be the means of preventing the chronic strikes which had operated so disastrously, it was concluded to try the experiment. Thus, virtually, the operators surrendered the control of their business by accepting the participation in its management of the men in their employment. The three large companies in the Lackawanna region persisted to the last in refusing to confer with their men on the question of a basis. In their opinion the only question involved in the issue was whether their property should be controlled and the policy of the companies determined by the owners, or whether they should be committed to the care and direc- tion of an irresponsible organization. The Miners' As- sociation failed after a four-months strike, extending from the middle of May to the middle of September, to es- tablish the basis system in that region, but they compelled the companies, by the action of the other regions, to make large advances in wages. The effect of these in- terruptions to the trade was to run up the price of coal to consumers, without benefiting the producers. Under the operation of the basis system, the interference with the working of the collieries continued through the local committees, who dictated who should be employed and who discharged.

ANTHRACITE BOARD OF TRADE.

The anthracite board of trade of the Schuylkill coal region was organized on the 19th of November, 1869, with William Kendrick as president. It represented 4,437,000 tons of coal, and acted thereafter in all nego- tiations with the workmen.

Upon the resignation of Charles E. Smith, Esq., on the 28th of April, 1869, as president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, Franklin B. Gowen was elected as his successor. The election of Mr. Gowen met with the hearty approbation of the Schuylkill opera- tors, and we believe of every person connected with the Schuylkill coal trade. From his knowledge of the coal business, his enlarged and liberal views of men and things, his eminent ability and great business capacity, the most exalted anticipations were indulged in as to the characteristics and success of his administration. A strong hope was inspired-which was not disappointed- that under his administration the producing interest of the Schuylkill coal region would receive that considera- tion and fostering support which had been withheld from it for many years.

From the commencement of the anthracite coal trade to the ist of January, 1870, the quantity of anthracite coal sent to market from all the regions was 190,058,685 tons, of which from the Schuylkill region, 82,030,232 tons; the Shamokin region, 6,584,523; the Lehigh re- gion, 36,564, 177 ; the Wyoming region, 64,879,753; total, 190,058,685.

A comparison of the quantity of anthracite coal fur- nished by the different regions in the decade ending with the year 1859, and the decade ending with the year 1869, shows that the Schuylkill region furnished 12 per

cent. less of the whole supply in the latter decade than it did in the former, although its tonnage was augment- ed 36 per cent. . When we consider the disadvantages of the Schuylkill coal trade during the ten years prior to 1870, the formidable and somewhat adventurous and speculative competition encountered in the market, the oppressive and illiberal policy of the transporting com- panies and the baleful influence of the so-called Work- ingmen's Benevolent Association, it is surprising that its position in the trade was so well sustained.

The year 1870 was one of the most unfortunate years in the Schuylkill coal trade since the break-down in 1857. Mining operations were suspended from the first of April to the first of August, while negotiating for a basis of wages. The miners claimed the wages of 1869, based upon $3 per ton for coal at Port Carbon, as a min- imum. The operators declared that experience had proven conclusively that the basis of $3 per ton was en- tirely too high to permit Schuylkill coal to compete with the large companies in the Lackawanna region. Mr. Gowen, at the request of both parties, settled the diffi- culty under the terms of what became known as the "Gowen compromise," which was the $3 basis, but slid- ing down as well as up with the change in the price of coal. The price averaged for the year $2.45 at Port Car- bon, and the wages fell below the rates offered by the operators in February. The loss in production, com- pared with that of the previous year, was 782,578 tons.

LEASE OF THE SCHUYLKILL NAVIGATION.

Upon the 12th of July, 1870, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company leased the Schuylkill navi- gation.

On the 7th of November, 1870, the committees repre- senting the Anthracite Board of Trade and the Working- men's Benevolent Association met in Pottsville to ar- range the terms of a basis for wages in 1871. An agree- ment was signed and ratified, based upon $2.50 per ton as the price of coal at Port Carbon. It was a judicious arrangement, which, had it been adhered to, would have operated beneficially to all interests involved; but it was repudiated subsequently by the leaders of the Miners' Union, in order that the association might join in the strike of their fellow members in the Lackawanna region. A general suspension was ordered by the general council of the association, to commence on the 10th of January, and on the 25th of January the delegates of the associa- tion in Schuylkill county resolved to adhere to the $3 basis. This course was in violation of good faith, and it satisfied the public that the leaders were unworthy of confidence. Great opprobrium was brought upon the association and its officers. The union could be no longer regarded as a protection to labor, but as an engine for its oppression. Its iniquities became known of all men, and the necessity for its suppression, as an enemy to the business interests and prosperity of the coal re- gions, became generally acknowledged. The suspension of work was continued for four months, the region being kept in a state of agitation and excitement in the mean-

READING COAL COMPANY-WAGES AND PRODUCTION.

while. All other efforts to make an arrangement having failed, the difficulty was referred to a board of arbitra- tion, with Judge William Elwell as umpire. On the question of interference with the working of the mines the umpire rendered a decision adverse to the claims of the miners, and on the question of wages a scale of wages was adopted based upon $2.75 per ton for coal at Port Carbon.

PHILADELPHIA AND READING COAL AND IRON COMPANY.

The average price at Port Carbon for the eight months of the year after the adoption of the $2.75 per ton basis was $2.61 per ton.

In 1870 the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company was organized as an auxiliary of the railroad company. The new company purchased during the year seventy thousand acres of coal lands in Schuylkill county. " The result of this action has been to secure- and attach to the company's railroad-a body of coal land capable of supplying all the coal tonnage that can possibly be transported over the road for centuries."

enterprise. There was no man who had the capital to stand up against them; six months out of a year they were idle, and we saw that we had to take the bull by the horns and go into the business of mining ourselves. There was nothing else for us to do. We tried honestly and sincerely for nearly eighteen months to develop these lands and work them by individual enterprise; nay, more than that, when we found that would not do, in several instances we opened the collieries and asso- ciated men of known experience with us as partners in mining, and let them have the business; but that was also unsuccessful, and we had to take hold of the coal trade as we took hold of the railroad-establish ourselves in it as a large corporation, with fixed rules."

In no previous year was the anthracite coal trade so judiciously and systematically governed as in 1873. In- deed it may be said that never before had the trade been governed in union and harmony, and with the co- operation and accord of the great representative inter- ests in all the regions. The trade, heretofore so capri- cious and ungovernable, was subjected to complete dis- cipline and control. Under the title of the "Associated Coal Companies" an organization was formed, composed of the large mining and transporting companies, for the purpose of proportioning the supply of coal at competi- tive points to the demand, and to regulate the prices of coal during the year so as to secure remuneration to the producers. The plan was to establish prices at the opening of the spring trade in March at the lowest rates on board vessels at the shipping ports, and to raise the prices ten cents per ton every month until the close of the year. By virtue of this arrangement the coal trade remained prosperous throughout the year, with prices fully maintained, notwithstanding the monetary panic, the opposition of the coal brokers and the clamor of the press against the "combination."

The amount of coal sent to market in 1872 was 19,- 371,953 tons, an excess of 3,579,475 over the supply of the previous year. From the Schuylkill region the sup- ply was 5,355,341 tons, 81,130 more than in the previous year. There was no interruption to the production in 1872 by strikes. The basis of wages was arranged on the 6th of January and adhered to throughout the year. The arrangement was based upon $2.50 per ton at Port Carbon, and the wages were not to go below that with a decline in the price of coal except in April and May, and then not below the rates based on $2.25 per ton. The arrangement operated unfavorably to the operators. The average price for the year was $2.14 per ton, or 46 cents per ton less than in 1871, while the wages were higher than in that year, with a $2.75 basis. The " basis " adopted for 1872 amounted virtually to a sur- The question of wages in the Schuylkill region for the year 1873 was arranged on a basis of $2.50 per ton at Port Carbon as a minimum. It operated well, because the Associated Coal Companies prevented coal from re- ceding below the basis price. The price of coal aver- ton more than in the preceding year. The production of coal in the Schuylkill region was 314,081 tons in excess of that of the previous year. render of their business interests by the operators, to a formidable and antagonistic labor combination. The consequence was that they crippled themselves, while they invigorated their enemies. So reduced did many of them become that the Reading Railroad Company, aged for the year $2.58 per ton, or forty-four cents per to enable them to continue their production and supply the railroad with tonnage, found it expedient to advance money on mortgage to them.

" Our first intention," said Mr. Gowen, " was never to In 1873 the consolidation of coals at Port Richmond for shipment known as the "pool " was put into opera- tion. By this system-which was a commingling of coals from different collieries to save expense in handling and vending-the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company undertook, at a greatly reduced cost, the ship- ping and selling of the coal of the producers. mine a ton of coal. The idea was that the ownership of these lands would be sufficient to attach the tonnage to us, and that we could get individuals to mine the coal at a rent. That was the policy inaugurated by the company, and to develop it they expended eight or nine hundred thousand dollars, simply in loans to individuals to enable them to get into business. We In the same year the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company embarked in the retail coal business in the city of Philadelphia, having built yards and deposi- tories of great capacity. built collieries, rented them to individuals and advanced money on mortgage; and had it not been for the terrible demoralization of labor in the coal regions, resulting in strikes, individuals would have been able to do all that The following were the essential features of the pro- gramme of the Associated Coal Companies for the gov- we wanted. But we had, during the time I speak of, a succession of strikes which entirely destroyed individual ernment of the anthracite coal trade to competitive points

HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

in 1874: Tonnage to competitive points for ten months from February Ist to November 30th inclusive to be 10,000,000 tons, and to be distributed among the six in- terests in the same proportion as that adopted in Febru- ary, 1873, for the business of that year, viz .: To the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, 2,585,000 tons; Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, 1,598,000; Central Railroad of New Jersey, 1,615,000; Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 1,837,000; Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company, 1,380,000; Pennsylvania Coal Company, 985,000. It was recom- mended that prices should open in March, 1874, at an average of fifteen cents per ton above the opening prices of 1873, and thereafter advance as follows : say in April five cents, May ten cents, and July, August, Sep- tember, October and November each fifteen cents per ton.

The great depression in all manufacturing industries in 1874, and especially of the iron trade, diminished the consumption of coal for manufacturing purposes and caused considerable stagnation in the coal trade. Of the 662 furnaces in existence in 1873 only 410 were in blast on the ist of January, 1874, and only 382 at the close of the year, showing the great prostration of that interest. The coal trade moved very sluggishly from: the start, and the Associated Coal Companies soon found it necessary to curtail the allotment of tonnage to com- petitive points. Instead of 10,000,000 tons there were only 8,248,928 sent to competitive points. In the mean time the programme was carried out in regard to advanc- ing prices. In the Schuylkill region, the basis of wages for 1873 was continued. The average price at Port Carbon for the year was $2.60.

REDUCTION OF WAGES AND THE "LONG STRIKE."

The supply of anthracite coal in 1874 from all the re- gions fell off 774,333 tons from that of 1873; of this decrease 327,382 tons was from the Schuylkill region.

A general reduction of wages was determined upon in all the anthracite regions in 1875 by virtue of imperative necessity. The shrinkage in value of nearly all commod- ities since the crisis of 1873 had produced a correspond- ing reduction in the wages of labor; coal could not be made an exception to the general rule to enable the pro- ducers to pay war prices to their operatives; the time for short hours and $5 a day had passed away, and miners like other men were required to be industrious and fru- gal. A reduction of ten per cent. ir wages had already been made and accepted in the Lackawanna region. The coal operators in the Schuylkill region, after careful study of the situation-the market being overstocked with coal, one half the furnaces in the country being out of blast, and manufacturers of all kinds running half or quarter time if at all-concluded that to reduce the price of coal, as was demanded to start the furnaces and man- ufactories, there must be a corresponding reduction in wages. Accordingly the following scale of wages for the year 1875 was decided upon as an ultimatum: Outside wages-first class, $1.50 per day; second class, $1.35;

all inside work to be on a basis system-basis $2.50 per ton at Port Carbon; inside labor and miners' wages to be reduced ten per cent. below the rates of 1874; contract work to be reduced twenty per cent .; one per cent. on inside work to be paid in addition to the basis rate for every three cents advance in the price of coal above $2.50 per ton; and one per cent. to be deducted from the basis rate for every three cents decline in the price of coal below $2.50 per ton at Port Carbon. No maximum and no minimum.

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History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 15

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell Number of Pages: 604

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604