and the claim was made and reiterated that only the violence of the mine workers prevented the reëstablishment of industry in the coal regions.

Nothing could be more significant than the manner in which the operators emphasized every disturbance occurring in the anthracite field. It cannot be denied that there was a number of clashes between the more reckless or impetuous strikers and the more irresponsible of the coal and iron police, hired by the operators for the purpose of protecting their mines. Testimony before the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission revealed the calibre of many of these defenders of the sacred right of property. Some of them were men of good character, but many of them were thugs, recruited from the lowest slums of the great cities, uniformed, armed, and invested with police authority. Some were, indeed, the most desperate cliaracters, and in the case of one man the Commission absolutely refused to allow him to be cross-examined, because of his own shameless acknowledgment that he was a crook, a thief, and a confirmed criminal. There were several cases of wanton assault and unprovoked murder by these coal and iron police; and, on the other hand, there were instances in which violence was done and murder committed by strikers, or by men who claimed to be in sympathy with them. It is utterly impossible to control every act and deed of every single individual in a population of 150,000 men and boys, who have been idle for months and many of whom are on the verge of despair, if not of actual starvation. But the claim that the majority of the men were prevented from working in the mines by the force and intimidation of a minority was utterly misleading, utterly false, and, as was subsequently shown, casily and completely disproved.

During the months of August and September the operators opened up a few mines and washeries in various parts of the region. In the official statements given out by the companies, the output of these mines was exaggerated, or else the coal produced by them must, for the most part, have been unaccountably lost before reaching market. What became of it has remained one of the unsolved mysteries of the coal strike. The output, as reported, increased steadily with each succeeding day, but importunate de

mands of would-be consumers were met with the stereotyped statement that no coal was being received. There can be no doubt that, whatever the production of coal by washeries and by mines, the output was much below the needs of the community, and the demand for fuel became daily more pressing.

Meanwhile, the coal operators remained firm. They attributed the inauguration of the strike to the uncontrolled ambitions of the short-sighted, self-seeking agitators; its continuance they attributed to the violence of a small minority of the men, who, they claimed, terrorized a vast majority; and they felt, or seemed to feel, that, if the public suffered for lack of fuel, it was because that public, in its generous but stupid sympathy, had encouraged the striking mineworkers. The serene indifference of these men to the demands of their employees and to the pressing needs of the public, is one of the most curious anomalies of this most remarkable of contests. All efforts at intermediation were met by a determined rebuff. Week after week the railway presidents met, as directors of the Temple Coal and Iron Company, but they did nothing to bring the strike to a close. Even the prosecutions brought against them as the creators of a trust were met by the same stolid indifference, and their policy of masterly inactivity was not shaken even by the concentrated indignation of the whole people or by the threats, made in various states, of legislation seeking to control the industry. The remarkable power of the union to continue the strike, although it desired peace, was perfectly evident. The ability and willingness on the part of the operators to prolong the struggle were equally clear. The strike had resolved itself into a contest in which, figuratively speaking, an irresistible force struck an immovable body. But the horror of the situation lay in the fact that between the two great powers, one struggling for the right to live, the other animated by the determination to be alone dominant -to be sole master-there stood the public, suffering, sensitive, and panicstricken at the approach of winter.

At this critical moment the President of the United States intervened. There seemed no possibility of reaching the operators by other means; they

refused to yield to advice of friend or threat of foe; they appeared utterly oblivious of the demands of a suffering public. President Roosevelt, however, conscious of the hardship that would follow in the wake of a coal famine, sent invitations to the various railroad presidents, to the presidents of the anthracite district unions, and to myself, to meet him in the temporary White House on the 3rd day of October. This meeting has become historic. The President, in stating the purpose of the conference, disclaimed any right or duty to intervene upon legal grounds or by reason of any official relation to the situation; he also advised against a discussion of the merits of the case, but requested both parties to "meet upon the common plane of the necessities of the public." "I appeal to your patriotism," he concluded, "to the spirit that sinks personal considerations and makes individual sacrifices for the common good."

The address of the President, short as it was, could not but arouse his auditors to a sense of the grave responsibility resting upon them. At its conclusion, I stated that I was impressed with the gravity of the situation, and I proposed on behalf of the anthracite mine workers that all matters in dispute be submitted to the arbitration of a tribunal selected by the President. At this juncture the President suggested that further discussion of the matter be deferred until three o'clock in the afternoon, in order that the operators and miners might think the situation over and come to an understanding.

The afternoon meeting was one of the most astounding events of the strike. The railway officials, disregarding the request of the President that' the merits of the controversy be not discussed, launched forth upon a series of tirades and invectives against the union and its officers, which left no ground for discussion or conciliation. This abuse, so openly showered upon the organization, was not spontaneous or instinctive, not made upon the spur of the moment, but was read from carefully prepared statements, which, no doubt, had been written and re-written and should therefore have represented the cool judgment of the operators. The presence of the Chief Magistrate of the nation did not in the least restrain some of the operators

from giving way to unseemly outbursts of feeling. It was intimated that the President had failed in his duty toward the public and the operators, and one of the speakers ended an impassioned, but utterly baseless invective, by a demand upon the President that he do his duty. The union was denounced as illegal, and a large number of cases were quoted in an effort to demonstrate that the union had no legal status and should be prosecuted. Some of the gentlemen representing the anthracite industry did not limit themselves to their carefully prepared statements, but injected into their reading a number of extemporaneous remarks bitterly assailing the organization of the United Mine Workers; and, instead of accepting our proposal of peace and arbitration, the railway officials concluded by urging that the President station United States troops in the anthracite coal fields.

The character of these attacks was such as to provoke indignation, but we preferred to disregard them, and I limited my reply to an acknowledgment that there had been some violence, which I regretted, and to the further statement that this violence had been exaggerated. I did not, however, desire to put anything in the way of a reconciliation with the operators and therefore refrained from replying to the attacks in the spirit which they naturally aroused. Instead, I submitted, in writing, a formal proposition for arbitration and pledged its acceptance by the mine workers.

While the effort of the President to bring about a settlement of the strike had apparently failed, it nevertheless opened the way for an ultimate adjustment. The attitude of the operators in refusing to accept the mediation or the arbitration of the President of the United States, caused a wave of indignation to sweep over the country, and the general judgment was that the wishes of the Chief Executive should be regarded and peace established. President Roosevelt continued his efforts to bring the strike to an end and on the 6th day of October requested me, through the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor, to secure the return of the men to work. The assurance was given that after mining was resumed a commission would be appointed to investigate the conditions of life and labor in the anthracite field, and that when the report and recommendations of this