T11E DAILY frvENINO TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, WEDNEfeDAf, APRIL 19, 1871.
THE COAL TROUBLES.
Argument of Franklin B. Onwen, Esq.,
In Behalf of (he Kallroad ud Mining
Interests ofPnnj lvnl.
The following Is Mr. Oowen's argument delivered
before the Pennsylvania Senate Jullclar Com
tuittee on the 80th alt. : ;
Gentlemen: We, who are Pennsylvanlans, hare
Always been under the Impression that oar State
derived great benefits from having within her bor
ders the only accessible deposits of anthracite coal
yet discovered In the United States. I have been
taught to regard the possession of this vast mineral
wealth as a great blessing; but I can assure you,
that In consequence of two years of suffering under
the control and mismanagement of the leaders of the
Workingmen's Benevolent Association, I am almost
tempted to doubt whether all this treasure upon
which our Commonwealth has so largely dependod
for her revenue which has given such an unexam
pled Impetus to our manufactures, and has at
tracted to us an aggregation of capital that has
supplied employment for, and fed and clothed so
large a proportion of, an Industrious laboring popu
lation has not been a great evil and a great curse;
and I fear that you, gentlemen, who have spent so
much time In an earnest endeavor to fathom the
causes of the present unfortunate condition of
a fl airs In the coal regions, will be willing to agree
with me in this conjecture.
Our neighbors of New York derive their prospe
rity from and boast of the supremacy of commerce;
but when we recall to our minds how fleeting and
evanescent has been the reign of commercial pros
perity In all the countries of the world, and remem
ber that at the beginning of this century Salem
was one of the most Important ports In the United
States, who can tell whether, ere the close of the
century, Salem or Boston may not have regained
Its supremacy, or whether the ships whose sails
now whiten the bay of New York may not float
upon the waters of the Delaware, or ride at anchor
lathe harbor of Norfolk? But the prosperity de
rived from the possession of mineral treasures Is
more enduring; and In her coal fields our own great
Commonwealth has control of an unfailing source
Of wealth, which, if properly fostered by the State,
will be far more lasting than that which depends
upon the diamonds of Brazil or Is derived from the
gold of California. You may be surprised to learn
that the coal trafflo alone has within the past ten
years paid Into the treasury of the State between
five and six millions of dollars, and that, notwith
standing the difficulties with which we have had to
contend during the past year, the corporations for
whom I now appear before you have paid as taxes
to the State, in the year 1870, nearly eight hundred
thousand dollars. Why Is It that our farmers have
been relieved irom State taxation upon their lands,
the State debt baa ceased to be a burden upon our
population, and the finances of the Commonwealth
are In so sound a condition? Simply because the
Interests for which I appear before you which
bave been strlckegdown by the unlawful combina
tion of an ignorant faction, and are now struggling
to be heard, In a calm judicial Investigation, against
the wild clamor of the demagogue and the fanatlo
have paid Into the coffers of the State so large an
amount of taxes that other Interests and other in
dustries have been relieved from the payment of
any.
Having called'your attention to the great Impor
tance ot the subject under consideration, and fully
conscious that the result of your deliberations may
be either to rescue these great; Interests from the
evils that environ them, or to consign them again
to the control of a tyrannical association, I now
propose (because It is necessary as part of the ar
gument 1 shall make In defence of the course pur
sued by the railroad companies) to give, as suc
cinctly as 1 can, and with some regard to the chro
nology of events, a statement of the causes which
bave led the several corporations to adopt the
course which has called forth ,thls investigation,
and then to present a legal argument in defence of
their action, together with some suggestions as to
the mode of adj u sting the present difficulty and pre
venting its recurrence in the future.
It is well known that during the late war the de
mand for coal was greatly increased. The navy
required a large supply; and manufacturers who
are always the great consumers were prosperous
and active; coal-mining became exceedingly profit
able; the coal-carrying railroads all made money:
th mJ Mere nj laborers were paid nigh wages; and
it was no uncommon occurrence for a good miner
to earn several hundred dollars a month. In con
sequence of this, a great impetus was given to the
coal trade. New collieries were rapidly opened;
new coal regions were brought into connection
with the markets by new railroads,
which were extended into every valley that
contained a deposit for coal; and the high
wages earned by the miner attracted from other
countries a large immigration of skilled work
men, and diverted to the business of mining
many who left other trades and occupations to ga
ther the golden harvest which was spread before
them. The natural result of this was, that after
peace was declared and the war demand had ceased,
the productive capacity of the anthracite coal re
gions was far greater than was required to supply
the consumption of coal; and the laboring popula
tion had increased so rapidly that employment could
not be given to all. The natural remedy for this
state of things would have been enforced by the law
of demand and supply. The badly-constructed and
ill-ventilated collieries that could not produce coal
at the rate the public was willing to pay for it
would have been abandoned, and the better class
of collieries that could have supplied the market
would bave continued at work and given em
ployment to as many men as were necessary to
produce the amount of coal required by the
wants of the community. The surplus population
that could find no employment at mining would
bave gone back to other occupations, until the
Increased demand for coal, resulting from low
prices, would have called them again to. the coal
regions. Thus a year or two of low prices would
bave supplied the cure for all the evils that were
felt at the close of the war. But about this time
there came into prominence an orgauization which
Is now known as the Workingmen's Benevolent As
sociation. Embracing originally several distinct
societies in the different regions, it gradually be
came a united and compact organization, chartered
first by the courts, and subsequently by the Legis
lature; and by the year 1868 it embraced nearly the
entire laboring population of the anthracite coal
region. The object of this organization was to se
cure employment for all of 1U members, and pre
vent the reduction of wages which every other class
of labor had to submit to at the close of the war.
Well knowing that if all its members worked a full
day during the year, the production of coal would
be much greater than the demand, they insisted
upon an increased rate of wages and decreased
amount of work, which would euablo a man to earn
in six or seven mouths as much as had previously
been earned in a year, so that the entire popula
tion should receive employment without increasing
the supply of coal above the demand. As it was also
well known to them that such wages could not be
paid unless the price of coal was kept up to a high
rate, they suspended work whenever the price
reached such a sum as made it impossible for their
employer to comply with their demands.
We, who thought we understood something about
the laws of trade, and knew that natural causes
would soon bring relief, remonstrated with the
leaders of this organization in vain. The law of
supply and demand, and every sound maxim of
trade which experience has demonstrated to be
correct, were thrown to the winds; and from the
bowels of the earth there came swarming up a new
school of political economists, who professed to be
able, during the leisure hours of their short work
ing day, to regulate a great Industry and restore it
to vigor and health. In the wildest flight of the
Imagination ot the most pretentious charlatan there
never was conceived such a cure for the ills with
which we were atlticted as was suggested by these
sew doctors. In their hands, however, we were
powerless; and with the eagerness of a student, and
the assurance of a quack, they seized upon the
body of a healthy trade, and have bo doctored and
physicked it that it is now reduced to the ghost of
the shadow of an attenuation. The first dose of this
new panacea was administered in the year 1868,
and a general suspension of work for many weeks,
resulting In advanced prices and higher wages, en
couraged them to proceed with the treatment.
Again, in the early part of 1809 a general suspen
sion In all the regions was inaugurated, accompa
nied by a demand for a rate of wages based upon
the price for which coal was sold; so that as coal
advanced the wages of the men were also to ad
vance; but a minimum rate of wages was demanded,
which was never to be lower than when coal was
sold at live dollars at Klizabethport and three dol
lars at Port Carbon. Wheu coal brought these
prices it was possible for the coal operator
to pay the minimum rate of wages without
losing ruouey; but as these prices were about
Ircui titty to seventy five cents a ton higher
than coal could possibly be sold for when ail
the regions were at work, and consequently that
niucn higher than the public should be asked
to pay tor it, the operators of all the regions re
fused to accede to the demand. After six weeks of
idleness, when It was apparent that the strike lu
the Wyoming and Lehigh regions would be of long
duration, the operators of Schuylkill county agreed
to the terms demanded by the men, and commenced
work at the three-dollar basis as a minimum.
Both of the other regions being idle, the price of
coal was very high at Port Carbon, and so long as
the Schuylkill county operators bad the entire
market to themselves they could afford to pay the
wages. The publio and the miners and operators
of the other regions were the only sufferers. After
five months of idleness in the other regions, when
the depletion of the supply bad inoreased prices to
a high rate, and It was evident that Schuylkill
county was taking customers away from the
other districts, both the Lehigh and Wyoming
regions resumed work the former upon the
terms demanded by the men, and the three
large companies In the latter without a basil, but at
a rate of wages tar greater than had been origin
ally asked. During the few weeks of the close of
the season of 18G9, when all the regions were pro
ducing, it became evident that the price of coal
could not and ought not be sustained at such a rate
as would enable the operators In all the coal fields
to pay the wages which those of one could pay
when the others were idle; and, accordingly, In the
winter of lHti9 70, a new basis wa asked tor by the
operators of Schuylkill county, which would en
able them to produce coal as low as f 2 25 and 82 SO
per ton. This was refused by the Workingmen's
Benevolent Association, and the result was the long
strike ot 1870 which kept the Schuylkill region
Idle for twenty weeks. Lehigh and Wyoming con
tinued at work in 1870; and In consequence of the
largo amount of Schuylkill coal kept out of the
market the operators of the other region realized
high prices, and were able to pay the hlgn rate of
wages the only sufferers being the public, as in
1869, and the operators, workmen and carrying
companies of the Schuylkill region. In the latter
part of July, 1870, the Workingmen's Benevolent
Association agreed to a modification of their de
mands; and In the Schuylkill region work was re
sumed on the first of August, 1870, at what has so
frequently been alluded to in the course of this
Investigation as the "Qowen Compromise," which,
while it adopted the same rate of wages at S3 as
was paid the previous year at 83, permitted the
rate to decrease in the same proportion as it ad
vanced, and established the minimum at 2; so that
when coal sold for $2 at Port Carbon the workmen
received thirty-three per cent, less wages than
when it sold for 83; and when 84 per ton at Port
Carbon was realized by the operator, the workmen
got an advance of thirty-three per cent, above what
he was entitled to at 83. Under this new basis,
work was continued in Schuylkill county during
the remaining five months of 1870, and the amount
of coal then sent to market, in addition to what
was mined in the Lehigh and Wyoming fields, was
such that prices fell to 82 25 and 82 60 per ton at
Port Carbon. As this "Uowen Compromise" was
only to last during the season of 1870, it became
necessary to adopt some basis for 1871; and In the
month of November last the regular committees of
the Workingmen's Benevolent Association and
operators met and agreed upon a rate of wages for
1871, which was entirely satisfactory to both par
ties, and which has been called the $2 60 basis.
You will remember that during the whole of 1870
the three large mining companies of the upper
Wyoming region had been paying the exorbitant
rate of wages which they agreed to, rather than
submit to the claim for a basis. It must be evident
to all of you that, at this rate of wages, the coal of
these tnree companies was costing them more than
they could realize for it during the months of Octo
ber and November last. Accordingly, they an
nounced a reduction of wages to take effect on
December 1; and though this reduction was not
greater than was required to make the rate about
equal to what other men In adjoining collieries
were working for, the men refused to submit to it,
and on the first of December, 1870, they struck and
quit work.
I now desire to call your particular attention to
the tact which is undisputed that at this time
there was no difficulty whatever existing between
the Workingmen's Benevolent Association and
their employers, upon the question of wages, in the
Schuylkill, Lehigh, or Lower Wyoming districts.
In the Schuylkill region the men were working
under the "Uowen Compromise," which was to
continue during the year 1870, and their represen
tatives had agreed with their employers in recom
mending the adoption of the 82 60 basis for 1871.
In the Lehigh and Lower Wyoming coal-fields no
Intimation had been given by either side of an In
tention to change the basis under which the men
were working. Notwithstanding this, however, a
general suspension was ordered by the Working
men's Benevolent Association to take place on
J anuary 10, 187 1; and this order was literally obeyed.
The object of this suspension, as stated by the
officers of the Workingmen's Benevolent Associa
tion, and published in their organ, the Anthracite
Monitor, was to deplete the market, reduce the
supply and advance the price of coal; and there
can be no doubt that It was resorted to, in the first
instance, to assist the men of the three large mining
companies who bad been upon a strike since the
first of December, and who could not hope to hold
out very long in their demand for exorbitant wages
if the coal market was being supplied from other
regions. I presume that the consideration to be
given by these men of the three companies for this
assistance was an absolute adhesion to the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association, and obedience to
its demands, that no work should be done except
upon the basis. The suspension, therefore, be
came general In all the districts on January 10th.
On the 16th of February, the General Council of
the Workingmen's Benevolent Association ordered
a resumption of work; but this order was accom
panied by a claim in the Upper Wyoming districts
lor the high wages of 1870. and in the Schuylkill
region it nad been preceded by a demand for the
old 83 minimum basis. These demands were not
acceded to, and the suspension still continues.
1 have thus gone over two years of alternate sus
pensions and strikes, by which, occasionally, the
worklngmen of one region would realize exorbitant
wages, but always at the expense of their suffering
brethren of auother who were kept in idleness by
their own actions. Out of the last twenty-two
months, the worklngmen of Schuylkill and the Up
per Wyoming districts have been idle for nine
months and those of the Lehigh region have been
idle for eight months and yet, with moderate wages
and low prices for coal, they oould bave bad steady
employment.
Let me now ask what has been tbe effect of this
control of the coal trade; so relentlessly exercised
by the Workingmen's Benevolent Association dur
ing tbe last two years; I mean Its e fleet upon others
than themselves upon the operators, upon the rail
road companies, upon the coal trade, upon the iron
Interests and upon the State ?
Before entering, however, upon this subject, I de
sire to say a few words In behalf of the coal opera
tors. 1 do not mean in behalf of the one out of the
five hundred who has appeared here as the especial
champion of the worklngmen, but on behalf of the
remaining four hundred and ninety-nine whom the
one referred to has characterized, out of bis choice
vocabulary of abuse, as "lying thieves and scala
wag operators." I will take Mr. Kendrlck as an ex
ample, lie commenced life as a laborer in the
mines, became a miner, worked for twenty years
as such, was made a superintendent, saved out of
bis hard earnings enough to enable him to possess
a colliery of his own, and now, when well ad rancad
in life, he finds the accumulated earnings of long
years of toll threatened with destruction, and him
self held up to ignominy and reproach, because in
this free country he has bad tbe courage to resist
the fierce tide of agrarianism that has threatened
to reduce him to beggary, and to run riot
with the property which his own patient industry
and toil bave enabled bim to lay up for old age.
You must remember, gentlemen, that in tbe eff ect
of these suspensions upon the two classes of men,
employer and employed, there is a wide diflerenoe.
The miner or laborer, if be does not chose to
work, can pack up bis effects and move to another
locality; but the employer is bound to bis colliery,
all bis property is there invested, and upon the suc
cess of the enterprise depends not only his subsist
ence, but that which to some men Is dearer than
life itself his character for commercial integrity.
The miner has no money Invested in the coal busi
ness. The operator may bave two hundred thou
sand dollars expended at one colliery. He iny
bave notes to pay, and contracts for the delivery of
coal to comply with; all of these be can meet if be
is permitted to work his mines. Ills employes may
be anxious to work for bim, and may be entirely
satisfied with the wages; but the grasp of the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association is around their
throats; the decree goes forth that there must be a
f eneral suspension. The poor laborer well knows
he ghastly fate in store for him if he disobeys this
decree, and the result of his obedience is the ruin
and dishonor of his employer. We have called many
of these coal operators before you, aud they have
testified to the injurious effect of their continued
suspensions and strikes, and have stated that, if the
present condition of affairs is not improved, they
will be glad to sell their property at one half or
two-thirds of its cost, and be thankful that they es
cape the wreck with even that little to call their
own.
Let me take the Reading Kallroad Company as
an illustration of the injurious eftect of the man
agement of the leaders of the Workingmen's 3ene
volent Association upon railroad companies. We
have three hundred locomotives, twenty thousand
coal cars, an extent of railroad amounting to about
twelve hundred miles of single track, aud a canal
one hundred aud eight miles long. We employ
about twelve tuousaud men, and are fully equipped
aud organized for a business of one hundred and
eighty thousand tons of coal a week. When the
districts which depend upon us for an outlet are all
at work, they can supply us with this amount of
trade. It becomes necessary for us, therefore, to
be prepared to transport it; and we would not be
cat lying out the deeigu of our charter if we were
unaMe to do the business which was offered. This
equipment and organization, therefore, must at all
times be kept upj and it is almost as expensive to
os when we are doing no coal business as when we
are transporting 180,000 tons a week. We cannot
discharge our employes, the railroad track must be
constantly watched, repaired and guarded; every
superintendent and agent must be at his post, and
receive his salary or his wages; the only men whom
we can temporarily dispense with are the coal
trainbands, it is greatly to our Interest that the
price of coal should be low, because low prices In
crease consumption, and we make money more
from a large tonnage than from high rates of
charges.
You can judge of the effect upon such a railroad
company, when an imperative decree of the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association suddenly deprives
it of all its coal tonnage; when the receipts of the
road from coal trafllo are suddenly reduced from
over a million of dollars per month to less than two
hundred thousand dollars, while the expenses re
main nearly the same; and yet to this extremity
bave we been reduced time and again during tbe
last two years and all because the Workingmen's
Benevolent Association bave determined that the
public shall never purchase their fuel at less than
3 per ton at Port Carbon or 8S per ton at Kliza
bethport. Why, gentlemen, I stand here In all sin
cerity, speaking for the several railroad companies
that I represent, to say that, If this evil is not
abated, we will be glad to bave our charters for
feited and taken from us, so that our stockholders
may invest their money in some other enterprise,
and In some other country where the rights of pro
perty are respected, and the citizen may appeal
with confidence to the protection of the law. I
trust I may not be misapprehended. I speak the
langnage of sober truth when I say that If this
state of society is continued for six months longer
we will come before you as petitioners, asking you
to Invoke the assistance of the courts, so that we
may be permitted to surrender our charters, and
obtain for our stock and bondholders the money
they bave invested. Then let the Workingmen's
Benevolent Association take charge of our roads in
name, as they have done in fact. Better, far better
for us all, that this should come to pass, than that
we should contmuethe farce of pretending to con
trol our own property, while the baleful Influence
of this organization is brooding like a dark shadow
over the land.
Let me now call your attention to the coal trade
Itself, and show you bow injuriously it has been
aflected by the Insane action of the leaders of tbe
worklngmen. You know that anthracite coal enters
into competition with bituminous coal and with
wood as fuel. Whenever anthracite can be intro
duced at a moderate price, it displaces both of the
other fuels for domestlo purposes, and Is generally
preferred to bituminous for steam and for many
manufacturing purposes. But it is not only mode
rate rates of price, but certainty and regularity
of supply, that are necessary to enable it to main
tain its position. Even at a lower rate, many manu
facturers will discard anthracite and use bitum
inous coal, If the supply of the former is constantly
interrnpted, and the latter can at all times be ob
tained. I think I speak within bounds when I say
that there are consumers now burning bituminous
coal at the rate of 160,000 tons per month.who have
been driven to it by the high prices and irregularity
of supply of anthracite caused by the repeated
strikes and suspensions of tbe last two years. If
you go into the steeple of Independence Hall, and
look out over tbe city of Philadelphia, you will
see tbe thick black cloud of smoke of bituminous
coal riBlng from the stacks of many manufactories
at which nothing but anthracite had ever before
been burned; and If you go to the bay of New
York, and look over the shipping congregated
there, you will see that hundreds of ferry-boats,
steamboats and steamships, which formerly burned
anthracite, are now using bituminous coal. It is
no exaggeration to say that in the year 1871 there
will be burned at least 2,000,000 of tons loss of an
thracite coal than would have been consumed had
It not been for the criminal folly of the managers
and leaders of the Workingmen's Benevolent As
sociation. So much for the coal trade. Now let us look at
the iron trade. Within the next few years the ques
tion is to be decided, whether the State of Pennsyl
vania is to maintain her supremacy in the iron
trade; whether the valleys of the Lehigh and
Schuylkill are to be tbe sites of furnaces and rolling-mills;
or whether the manufacture of Iron is to
be moved to the southern states to Kentucky, to
Tennessee and Alabama where vast deposits of
iron ore bave lately been brought to notice. I
know of many instances where some of our largest
iron manufacturers bave invested large amounts of
money in tbe iron districts of the south. If coal
can be obtained at Port Carbon at from 82 23 to
82 60, and at Mauch Chunk at from 82 76 to 83,
there can be no doubt that the valleys of the Schuyl
kill and the Lehigh will continue to be the great
centres for the manufacture of iron. But if the
policy of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association
is to be enforced if coal is to be kept at titty cents
a ton higher than it should be, and the regularity of
the supply be constantly interrupted by strikes and
suspensions there can be no doubt that Pennsylva
nia will have to bid farewell to its great iron manu
factures, aud be content to see otber States that are
free from the tyrannical rule of trade unions pros
per in an industry which, by proper care, she
could bave retained forever for herself. A very
experienced iron manufacturer lately stated that
the Fnglish iron trade required no better protection
for its products in America than has been afforded
by tbe active co-operation of the Workingmen's
Benevolent Association in Pennsylvania; and with
in the last sixty days it is believed that more orders
for Scotch pig iron bave left the United States, than
under other circumstances would bave been sent in
a year.
Upon the general prosperity of the State, the re
sults of the course which I have been condemning
are but too apparent. Since the 1st of January we
bave fallen behind last year's trade to the extent
of about one and a half millions of tons of coal.
Of this, two-thirds would bave gone beyond the
State if it had beon mined, and would bave been
worth, at the State line, at least four dollars a ton;
so that four millions ot dollars, which in the space
of three months would have been sent Into the Com
monwealth by foreign consumers of our products,
are now lost forever.
But let me call your attention to the effects of this
association upon its own members. 1 speak now in
behalf of tbe rights of labor, not of the rights of the
sleek, well-fed and well-dressed leaders of the or
ganization that you see around us here, but of the
thirty thousand suffering men who are anxiously
awaiting tbe decree of their society to know whether
they have a right to make use of their hands to
labor tor tbe support of thelMamllies. Canital has
its rights property is entitled to the protection of
tbe law; but higher and dearer than tbe rights of
capital, or the claims of property, Is the right of
tne laooring man conuemneu to earn nis Dread by
the sweat ot his brow to make use of the strength
which Uod has given bim, without hindrance or
molestation from any one. But do these men nos-
scss this right, or, rather, dare they exercise it? Is
it not a notorious fact, that the decrees of a tribu
nal called the General council of the Worklnirmen's
Benevolent Association have condemned to idleness
thousands of men who were entirely satisfied with
their wages, and who would now gladly return to
work if they felt certain that the State to which
they owe allegiance had the power to protect
them from outrage? Will the leaders of the
Workingmen's Benevolent Association agree that
the question of resuming work at the 82 50 basis
may be submitted directly to the men, to be voted
upon by secret ballot? If they will, I can venture
to predict that eight out of ten would gladly em.
brace the opportunity of going to work. In all the
history of the coal trade. I do not believe there have
ever been two such disastrous years to the laboring
classes as bave been the last two under the domina
tion of their society. 1 think 1 have shown how in
juriously this organization has affected the best in
terests of the State; but it has affected no one as
injuriously as its own members. Think of an or
gauization, entered into for the purpose of mutual
protection, being so perverted aud mismanaged as
almost to reduce its members to starvation! They
ask for work: it has permitted them to work in
Schuylkill county but five months out of the past
twelve. They want steady wages and regular em
ployment, and when they have both it compels
them to stop, in order that the men of some other
region may be assisted in a strike and brought un
der tbe control of the society. They pay their dues
to the association under the belief that It will shield
them from distress: it barely permits them to work
long enough to earn money to pay the dues that
bave accumulated during their Idleness. They have
asked for bread: it has given them a stone.
Let me stop here to inquire what this society
might bave been if properly managed, with no
other view than tbe benefit of its own members; let
me suppose that, instead of being blinded by pre
judice and passion, its leaders had opened their
eyes to the real wants of the working classes, and
bad earnestly set about to supply them; that, in
stead of acting upon tbe principle that what
they did not kuow was not worth kuowlug, they
bad listened to the advice of real friends, and ac
tively co-operated with them to secure constant em
ployment for those who depended upon them then,
Indeed, this association might have been a blessing
instead of a curse to its own members: it might
bave secured them from oppression; given them
regular employment at remunerative wages; cared
for them when sick or injured, and provided for
their wives and children when illness or accident
bad disabled them from work.
But it is not only what this association has done,
but of the means resorted to to accomplish It, that
we complain. Mr. Hall has been very severe upon
us because the employers ventured to meet together
and decide upon the amount of wages they could
aflord to pay, without first obtaining the permis
sion of their workmen. But Mr. Hall's clients, the
Workingmen's Benevolent Association, never con
sulted any one before resorting to the arbitrary
measures that bave marked their sway. Before
ordering the suspension of work, which now de
prives thousands ot men of brea J, reduces the
owners of collieries to bankruptcy, aud paralyzes
the Industry of a whole State, they obtained the
consent oi no one out toe tew leaders whose secret
conclave Is denominated the General Council. It
is by brute force alone that all their decrees have
been carried into effect, It Is by brute force that
they have compelled a large proportion of their
members to join th sir organization; it Is brute force
that now prevents thousands from leaving it; it is
by brute force that this present suspension has been
Inaugurated, and it Is by brute force alone that they
hope to terminate It. For three weeks, gentlemen,
you bave been listening to the testimony of wit
nesses, revealing the existence of a state of society
In the coal regions of Pennsylvania the mere
recital of which must bring a blush to the cheek of
every good citizen. You have heard how often a
large colliery has been compelled to remain Idle
for weeks and months, on account of the refusal
of its owner to comply with an order of the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association, requiring him to
dismiss bis superintendent, or to refuse to employ
some man who was obnoxious to the organization.
Y'ou have beard how notices bave been served
upon coal operators, containing a list of names of
persons employed by them who did nbt belong
to the Union, in which it was announced that if
those whose names were given did not join the
Association before a certain day, no more work
should be done at the colliery; and you bave beard
bow the colliery was compelled to remain idle for
davs and weeks, and how. at last, the ostracized
miners who refused to join the society were com-
peuea to leave tneir nomes to engage in new pur
suits in other places where the rights of personal
liberty and personal security were held to be some
thing more than a mockery and a farce. Y'ou bave
been told by Mr. Markle bow his men refused to
work for bim because he complied with one of the
firovlslons of the ventilation bill; and you have
earned from the officers of the Workingmen's
Benevolent Association themselves, that If one of
their own members does not pay his dues to the
society, his employer is punished by stopping all
work at his colliery until the delinquent member
discharges the amount. We bad over a hundred
witnesses to call upon this subject; but, out of de
ference to tbe general desire to close the investiga
tion as quickly as possible, we called but twelve or
fifteen, and from these you learned enough to know
that In this free State of Pennsylvania, within one
hundred miles of the capitol,tbe liberty and pro
perty of our citizens are held at the mercy of the
decrees of a secret tribunal, above and beyond
which there Is no law and no power to which tbe
oppressed people can apply for protection, or resort
to for redress.
Let me now ask, whose fault Is it that the pre
sent suspension still continues? I have shown you
very clearly, I think, and Indeed upon this question
there Is no dispute, that the suspension was ordered
by a decree of the General Couucil of the Working
men's Benevolent Association, made at time when
there was not only no dispute about wages in either
tbe Schuylkill, the Lehigh, or the lower part of the
Wyoming districts, but no design or Intention on
the part of the employers to reduce them, and that
the sole objects of the Workingmen's Benevolent
Association were to increase tbe price of coal and
assist the men of the three large mining companies.
During the month of February the meetings of
railroad omciais, coal operators ana iron men,
about which you have heard so much, took place in
New York and Philadelphia. The object of these
meetings was to adopt some equitable rate of wages
to be paid in each of tbe tbree regions, so that
thereafter there should not be a repetition of the
experiences of tbe past two years, such as paying
higher wages in one region than in another, or stop
ping one region to benefit the men of another. At
these meetings it seemed to be conceded that the
rate of wages should be established in the Schuyl
kill region, and that the others should conform to
it. Accordingly, we adopted for Schuylkill tbe very
basis of wages which the committee of the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association had already
recommended for the year 1871. We took then
at their own offer; although it was generally
believed that the price of contract work at the
82 60 basis was entirely too high. We offered to
the men precisely the same terms which they
themselves in November last bad agreed should be
paid to them during the whole of the year 1871. We
have beard it said that this November basis was
never ratified by the association. Two witnesses
were called to prove that It had not been; but, on
the other side, we Bhowed that Mr. Siney, the pre
sident, said It had been accepted. I do not, how
ever, propose to rest this point of the case upon the
formal acceptance of the terms. The question is,
are the terms offered fair? and upon that questton,
the fact that in the month of November last, when
there was no strike and no quarrel, the regularly
authorized committee of the Workingmen's Bene
volent Association, with John Siney, its president,
at its bead, signed a paper recommending the
adoption of the 82 60 basis for the year 1871,
should be sufficient to convince anyone that the
82 60 basis is in nowise unjust or unfair to the men.
If these leaders of the Workingmen's Bouevolent
Association could recommend the 82 60 basis In
November, as entirely fair and J UBt, to their con
stituents, why Is the same basis unfair and unjust
in January? What had occurredin thetwo months
to change their minds? Why, gentlemen, in De
cember a strike took place among the men of the
three companies; the Workingmen's Benevolent
Association was asked to join it. Their cupidity
was aroused, and they believed that, by making the
strike general, in January they could so advance the
pi Ice of coal as to compel their employers to give
them much more than they had themselves de
manded, it nas been saia that this 'i do basis is too
low; that, under it, when coal sells for two dollars,
the outside laborer gets but 87 61 per week. True;
but when coal sells at 83, the same laborer gets
810 70 per week; and when it brings 84, be gets
813 76 per week. Under the "Uowen Compromise,"
the men were never paid at less than the 82 29
rate; and when coal falls to 82 at Port Carbon, the
operator is losing money, he is giving the coal
awav, and simply running his colliery for the bene
fit of bis men. When coal brings 83 per ton, it is
safe to assume that the actual labor of producing it
costs 81 60 per ton: that Is, the actual sum paid out
by tbe operator to nis own miners ana laborers will
be 81 60 per ton. In addition to this, there are ex
penses not aflected by the basis price of labor,
amounting to another 81 per ton. These expenses
are for rents or royalties, lateral railroad freights,
timber, lumber, sheet iron, rails, horse and mule
feed, insurance, &o. Thus at a good colliery, with
a good month's work, the coal that sells for 83 will
cost tbe operators 82 60, leaving a profit of fifty
cents per ton; but out of this profit must be de
ducted the losses or break-downs, strikes, suspeu
sions, and the driving of dead work during the
winter.
Let us now look at the cost when coal Is selling
at 82. The wages will then be thirty-three per
cent, less, or 81 a ton Instead of 81 60 the sta
tionary expenses remain tne same, 81) so that the
coal costs the operator 82 exactly what be sells it
for leaving no surplus out of which to reimburse
himself for break-downs, strikes, suspensions and
winter's dead work. It must be remembered that
the men do not want a steady rate of wages, but
have themselves adonted the sliding scale based
upon the price of coal. As they get the benefit of
every advance in price, they should be willing to
decline as prices recede. In other business pur
suits, when a man necomes a partner in traue ne
invests his own capital, and agrees to give
bis own labor for a specified time; be then
becomes entitled to a participation in a dis
tribution of profits, but be must also make
up his proportion of the losses. Our friends, the
members ot the Workingmen's Benevolent Associ
ation, however, claim to be partners without in
vesting any money, without binding themselves ti
work a day longer than is agreeable to themselves,
and without being required to bear any share of the
losses. They say to their employer, you must pav
us the 83 basis as a minimum; at this rate we will
get, at the worst, better wages than can be earned
by any otber similar class of labor in tbe world;
then, with this secured as a minimum, whenever
coal goes above 83 you must distribute amongst us
half of your profits. The employer replies, 1 will
do either one of two things: 1 will either give you
regular wages throughout the year, unaffected by
tbe price of coal, or 1 will share my profits with
you when coal is above 83, provided you will let me
deduct irom your wages, wucn coai goes oeiow 83,
the same oercentaee I add to them when It risua
above that price. No, reply the worklngmen, we
can never agree to that; we never will permit you
to oppress us and grind us into the dust in that way;
you must give us all the profits and you must bear
all the losses; and if you don't consent to this before
next Monday we will strike. So the strike takes
place, and the Workingmen's Beuevolent Hocietv
Lurries off to liarrisburg to tell the dignitaries
there assembled that, unless immediate relief is
given them irom the rapacity and tyrauny of their
employers, the said dignitaries will never again be
elected to any publio position.
In speaking of the amount of wages that can be
earned under the 82 60 basis our frleuda on the
other slue are disingenuous in referring only to the
wages of the laborers. Y'ou have seen that the
largest amount of wtges paid at a colliery Is to
miners who work by contract: and. Indeed, all coal
mining Is done by the Job. The miner Is paid by
the yard or by tbe wagon, and, at the wages offered
to them, every good miner can readily earn from
84 to to a day. Why, gentlemen, you nave uau tue
actual check-rolls before you, aud have seen that
' - i . T 1 . . .A AOkA (lt V III All I ll
Winers are earning iruiu piuv w -w r' u.n.i.,
ai d some even more than that; and you have had
it proved that the miner seldom works more than
six or seven nours a a ay.
You, gentlemen, are all lawyers, and I bare no
doubt that you remember now,
through loug days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,"
vou strove tnr veara. bv study and severe applica
tion, to tit yourselves for tbe duties of a toilsome
ard laborious profession. I bave no doubt for it
has been the experience of ns all that you were
glad if, after two or three years of practice, you
could count upon an income ot five or six bundled
dollars a year. How many, or rather how few, of
tbe lawyeis, doctors and clergymen of the United
States bave an Income of 8 IRK) per annum, lam
willing to accord to the miner all that Is his due.
1 think he should be well rewarded for bis toil; and
I am glad when he Is nrosnerotia and hannv. but
those who labor with their hands should yield to
those who labor with their minds. There are those ,
who toll longer and harder than the miner, and who
are not pain one-nan so much; and the favorsor for
tune are indeed distributed by a careless band,
when we find that the yearly earnings of a miner
exceed the average Incomes of the three learned
professions in the United States. 1 fear, too, that
some of these worklngmen are disposed to take an
agrarian view of this subject of their earnings. I
talked to a number In the lobby of the Senate to
day, and although I found most of them exceedingly
sensible and well disposed towards an amicable ad
justment of our differences, there was one who said
to me, "Mr. Uowen, It is not fair that you should
get so many thousand dollars a year, while we only
?;et hundreds." I replied to him that I could learn
ds business in six weeks, but that I feared that it
would require six years for bim to learn mine.
This was evidently to him a new view of the case,
and if It did not satisfy him, I think it silenced him.
But, says the counsel for tbe Workingmen's Bene
volent Association, my clients are entitled to large
wsges; their vocation Is an exceedingly dangerous
one; even if they meet with no accidents, the effect
of working in the mines is so injurious that
few live to be over thirty-five years of age.
They are mere slaves, living in abject misery, and
ruled with an Iron hand by their Imperious employ
ers. And my friend Mr. Hall seemed so much in
earnest in this belief that during ths examination
he occasionally asked the witnesses whothor they
ovmed their worklngmen. Now, I don't Intend to deny
that mining Is sometimes a dangerousocoapatlon;but
I do deny that it is as dangerous as many others in
which much less wages are earned. It is by no
means as dangerous a life as that of a brakeman on
a railroad; and a good miner who works but six or
seven hours a day will earn twice as much money
as a brakeman who works from ten to twelve hours.
Y'ou bave heard a very experienced gentleman upon
the witness stand say that in bis judgment the busi
ness ot a miner was not more dangerous to life than
that of many mechanical pursuits, and that it did
not compare unfavorably with that of a carpenter.
There is one very great peculiarity about life under
ground. I speak from my own observation, and I
believe It has been tbe experience of all who have
given the matter much attention when a man once
becomes accustomed to work in the mines, he never
will work elsewhere. I bave often heard this as
serted, and have never beard it denied. Mr. Sharpe,
when explaining how tbe high wages paid during
the war attracted to tbe mines men of other trades,
spoke of a shoemaker and a tailor who had become
miners, and who, throughout all the vicissitudes of
tbe past two years, remained firmly attached to
their new profession, and did not think of abandon
ing it. So much for the danger. How is it about
the poverty, degradation and tho mournful state
ment of tbe early death of tbe worklngmen ?
1 did think that when it was announced and, I
believe, attempted to be proved that the miner
generally dies at thirty-five years ot age, our
friends, out of regard to tbe fitness and propriety
of the thing, would call no living witness who was
over thirty-five; and I expected that some drama
tic efl'ect would be produced by the appearance of
witness after witness, decrepit with premature age
and bearing npon bis person, and exhibiting in his
manner, the unmistakable marks of servitude and
degradation. I had noticed that there was sitting
near us, during much of the examination, and
apparently taking a great interest in the pro
ceedings, a very respectable, well-dressed, elderly
gentleman, who had the appearance of a well-con-itloned
clergyman, and 1 supposed bim to bo some
minister of the gospel who was interested in the
solution of the social problem that it is presumed
will be solved by this investigation. This geutle
man, to my surprise, was called to the stand as a
witness. He was a miner; bad been one all bis life:
he was sixty-five years of age; strong in wind and
limb, and an active member of the Workingmen's
Benevolent Association. It was our friend Mr. Wll
HaniB, who now tills the responsible position of a
member of the House of Hepresentatives of the
great State of Pennsylvania, and helps to make the
laws which all of us must obey. It Is painful, gen
tlemen, to reflect upon the long course of misery
and degradation through which our friend Mr. Wil
liams must bave passed before he was reduced to
his present extremity. The next workingman called
to the stand was Mr. Hallman, from Danville. He
Is a blacksmltb by trade, and an officer of the Na
tional Labor Union. Nature bad adorned him with
a magnificent beard, and art bad arrayed bis person
In a suit of French broadcloth; he carried a gold
beaded cane; and, with all these outward marks of
uncomplaining penury and toll, he pathetically
described bow the class to which be belonged had
pu tiered, and were still suffering, from the tvrannv
and oppression of those grasping monopolists the
railroad companies. Why, gentlemen, when I
looked at these witnesses and compared their dress
with my own. I really felt somewhat ashamed of
myself; and if I had bad a better suit, I would have
appeared in it, out of deference to yourselves and
regard for the reputation of my clients.
But it is not only upon the witness-stand that
these evidences of degradation and misery have
p escnted themselves to you. I have been in Har
risburg the greater part of three weeks, and, as our
sessions have been held In the afternoons and even
ings, I bave had a great deal of leisure during the
earlier parts of tbe day. and have occasionally ven
tured within this chamber when the Senate was in
session, to watch the process of law maklug. 1
remember that on one occasion my attention was
attracted to two or tbree gentlemen engaged in
earnest conference with senators at their desks, and
apparently remonstrating or expostulating with
them. I Inquired who the gentlomen were sup
posing, of course, that they were senators. I was
told that they were not senators, but members of
tbe Workingmen's Benevolent Association. "What
are they doing on the floor of the Senate?', I ex
claimed. "Why," replied my informant, "they are
instructing senators how to vote npoa certain bills,
and threatening them with defeat at the next elec
tion if they dare disobey." And it is these people
who brow-beat senators who are members of the
Legislature who dress In fine broadcloth and carry
gold-headed canes who bave the impudence to
appear before you in forma pauperii.
I bave now shown, I hope, successfully, that the
amount of wages they can earn at our off er exceeds
that realized by any otber class of equal skill in the
world; that the offer In Schuylkill county is pre
cisely the same as was recommended in November
by tbe very leaders who appear ia March to de
nounce it as unjust; and therefore, that, by refus
ing to accept it, the worklngmen are as much in the
wrong in protracting the suspension, as they were
in originating it.
I come now to the action of the railroad compa
nies. On the fifteenth of February, the Heading
Kallroad Company increased its charges from 82 03
to 84 08 between Port Carbon and Philadelphia.
Shortly afterward, the other companies made a
similar advance; and again, about the first of M arch,
an additional advance of 82 was made by tbe Head
ing Kallroad Company alone. Under this state of
facts, two questions arise for discussion:
First. Had these several railroad companies the
lawful right to make these charges.
Second. Have they exercised their power in such
a manner as to amount to an abuso or misuse of
their charters? and subsidiary to this, Is the Inquiry
into the power of the Legislature to determine the
question of abuse or misuse.
Mr. Brockway has referred you to each particular
charter, and my colleague baa discussed the ques
tion of tbe right to impose charges, so fully, as to
leave little lor me to add. There are but five
statutes, or parts of statutes, which require con
struction: 1st. Tbe tenth and twentieth sections of
the Heading Kallroad charter; 2d. The eighteenth
section of the general railroad law of 1819; 3d and
4th. The acts of I860 and 1868, relating to the Dela
ware and Lackawanna and Western Kallroad Com
pany; and, 6th. The act of 1870, supplementary to
the charter of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg
Kallroad Company.
Under the charter of the Reading Railroad Com
pany, granted in 1833, power was given to the com
pany to charge as tolls not exceeding four cents per
ton per mile. By another part of the same charter
the company was authorized to furnish motive power
aud to transport passengers and freight, though no
thing is said about the charges for such transporta
tion. Now, the points we make are these: First, that
the word tolls refers only to the charge for the use
of the roadway when the transportation is done by
others; and, second, that as power was given to
transport, it follows, as a necessary consequence,
that there is to be implied a power to charge for
such service; and, as no limit is Imposed by the
statute, the managers of the company bave a dis
cretionary power to regulate tbe charges.
I do not propose to enter upon any elaborate ar
gument upon these points. Fortunately for me, as
well as yourselves, gentlemen, we have an express
authority in tbe case of Boyle vs. tbe Philadelphia
and Heading Kallroad Company, 4 P. F. Smith,
page 810, where the very points raised by our
friends uion the other side were discussed aud
finally determined In our favor. This decision of
tbe highest Judicial tribunal of the State, I am
sure, will be considered as authority by you, not
withstanding the attacks which bave been mad j
upon it by Mr. Hall. In tbe year 1833, when tbe
charter was obtained, railroad companies were uot
transporters. They simply furnished a road-bed,
kept it in repair, and collected a toll from those
who put cars upon it. Originally these ears were
pulled by horse power, aud afterward by loooniQ
fives. 1 ran very well remember when, upon the
State road between Columbia and Philadelphia,
there were a number of passenger and transporta
tion lilies owued by dtnereut individuals, who ai 1
the State a toll for passing over the railroad. And
it was exactly such a toll that was lueaut by tba
Legislature nheii the Heading Railroad Company
was restricted to the charge of four cents per ton
per mile. Hie very fact that In another vart of
the charter power Is given to transport, Is sufficient
to show that tbe charge for tolls did not include
the cost of transportation and car service.
I admit that charters are to be construed favor
ably to the State, and I admit that a corporation
takes nothing by implication: but this last position
Is admitted with this qualification, that where
power Is given to a company to engage in business
there Is necessarily to be Implied a power to charge
for transacting it. Suppose a company was char
tered witn power to make gas and sell it to the
Inhabitants of Harrishurg, would it be pretended
that, because no specific power to charge for it was
f iven, the company would have no right to collect
is gas bills? or if a lawyer was created a corpora
tion sole, to practice his profession, would It not be
a necessary Implication that he had the right to
collect fees for his services? Will It be pretended
that a hotel company, holding a charter which does
t!ot specifically grant the power to charge for board
and lodging, has not only no power to discriminate
in its charges between the price of a sirloin and a
mutton chop, but that any impecunious guest
could defeat an action for the price of bis board,
by asserting that it was an abuse of the charter of
the company to attempt to make him pay for what
he bad eaten? Surely, then, both upon reason and
authority, I am Justified In asserting that the
Heading Railroad Company has in no manner vio-
lated its charter In establishing or collecting Its
present rates for tolls and transportation.
Tbe rights of the other companies are all to be
determined by the eighteenth section of tbe general
railroad law, for though some of their charters
were obtained before the passage of that law, they
bave subsequently been placed within its provi
sions. Under the act of 1849, railroad companies are
restricted to tbe following charges in carsot others:
Three cents per 2000 pounds per mile, with an addi
tional charge of two cents per mile per car, every
four wheels being counted as one car. Now, three
cents per 2000 pounds per mile is equal to 3.36 cents
for 2240 pounds per mile; two cents per mile each,
way equals four cents per mile one way for the car;
divide this four cents by the cargo, five tons, and It
will make eight mills per ton per mile, which,
added to the 3 36 cents, makes 4.16 cents per ton of
2240 pounds per mile as the maximum rate which
railroad companies are permitted to charge, under
the act of 1849, for transportation in can of others.
It is always to be borne in mind that, even under
the act of 1849, there Is no limit Imposed npon the
charges when the railroad companies furnish their
own cars. But it baa not been shown that any one
of the several railroad companies who are re
stricted by the act of 1849 has ever made a charge
of more than 4.16 cents per ton per mile for trans
portation of freight In cars of others, and there
fore not one of them has violated Its charter.
Our friends upon the other side have singled out
tbe case of a charge made by the Lackawanna and
Bloomsburg Railroad Company of 81 25 for trans
porting a four-wheeled car load of limestone six
miles, and, drowning amid tbe waves of testimony
which overwhelm them, seize upon It to save them
selves. This limestone, it appears, was transported
in the cars of the consignor, and hence the limit of
4.16 cents per mile applies. This charge per ton
multiplied by six miles would give 24.96 cents as
tbe maximum charge per ton allowed by law. As
suming the car to have contained exactly five tons,
the rate paid was 29 cents per ton Just four hun
dredths of a cent, more than was strictly lawful.
I presume that with you, gentlemen, the maxim
de mintmit non curat lex will relieve us from the
weight of this grievous offence; and if the Work
ingmen's Benevolent Association are not satlstlod,
and want to get bold of this four hundredths part
of a cent, I will discharge the amount on behalf
of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad Com
pany whenever I can find In my pocket any change
small enough to meet the-demand. But, if I recol
lect tbe testimony, it was proved that each car con
tained five and one-quarter tons; so that, really,
the railroad company bad the legal right to charge
81 31 4-100 per car Instead of 81 26; and our friends
take nothing by their motion. I cannot help, how
ever, expressing some surprise that in this ooal in
vestigation, in which exorbitant and illegal charges
for the transportation of coal were made the burden
of complaint, and the wrongs of the suffering
miners and laborers of the coal region were to be
redressed, our friends should have changed base so
suddenly and brought up this limestone reserve to
cover their retreat.
I now invite your attention to tbe acts of 1856
and 1866, relative to the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad Company. By the former It
was, inter alia, enacted that tbe company should
not bave the power to purchase coal during sucb
time as their charges for transportation were over
two cents per ton per mile. We claim that the act
of 1866 repeals this provision of tbe act of 1856; but
admitting, for the purposes of the argument, that
it does not, what follows? not that tbe company
cannot charge more than two cents per ton per
mile, but only that when It does charge more, it
cannot purchase coal; and where, I ask, is there
any evidence that the company has purchased ooal
when Its tolls were more than two cents per ton per
mile? There is none, and if there was, what has
the purchase of coal to do with the question to be
discussed before you?
Tbe only remaining statute Is the act of 1870,
supplementary to the charter of tbe Lackawanna
and Bloomsburg Railroad Company. This act pro
vides that for any distances under ten miles the
company shall have the right to charge twenty
ctuts per ton, whenever by the act of 1849, they
would not have bad tbe right to charge so much as
twenty cents. This act has been cited as restricting
the company to a charge of twenty cents for any
distance under ten miles; but it only requires to
be read to see that, instead of restricting, it en
larges the power of the company It enables them
to charge more than they otherwise oould hava
done. Thus for two miles they would bave been
restricted by the act of 1849 to a charge of 8.32
cents per ton; but, by the act of 1870, they can now
charge 20 cents. The privilege of charging 20 cents
is to apply to such distances under ten miles for
which under the general law they would huve bad
no power to charge that much.
. I bave thus attempted to show that, under tbe
firoper construction of the several statutes, no
Uegal charge has been made by any of the several
railroad companies. Before leaving tbe questton
of violation or charters I should, probably, allude
to that part of Mr. Brockway's argument referring
to the quantity of land held by the Delaware anil
Lackawanna Railroad Company. It is said this
company baa too much land, and that no authority
has been shown to hold it. I really do not know
what this has to do with the case now before you.
I do know, however, that when General Bris
bln, of tbe Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Company, was upon the stand, and an
inquiry was made as to tbe power to hold land, he
offered to produce a memorandum of the several
statutes if they were required; and Mr. Hall stated
that, as it bad nothing to do with the subject or the
investigation, be would not require them. We are
prepared, if necessary, to show that the company
nas legal authority to hold all its land; but I appro-
bend that you will be obliged to us tor not accumu
lating a mass of testimony upon an entirely irrele
vant subject.
And now as to tbe second question bave any of
these railroad companies misused or abused their
franchises?
1 bave shown bow large an equipment and orga
nization we are always obliged to keep up. I bave
shown that this equipment and organization are to
all of us almost as expensive when we are doing
nothing as when roads are taxed to their fullest ca
pacity. We are all anxious for trade; have always
been willing to do the largest possible amount of
business at tbe lowest possible prices. But when
we are thus fully prepared for trade, an order of
the Workingmen's Benevolent Association suddenly
deprives us of our business. Upon the Reading
Railroad the tonnage falls from 150,000 tons a week
to 10,000 tons, but the expenses remain nearly the
same. The coal which cost us but 81 60 to move
when we were transporting 150,000 tons a week,
now costs us from 86 to 88 ton. Must we continue
to carry it for 82 when it costs us 86; or is it not a
perfectly reasonable exercise of the discretionary
power vested in our board of managers to Increase
the charges for transportation, so that the receipts
ot tbe road shall in some measure approximate to
its expenses? Can it be possible that we are so
entirely subject to the dominion of tbe Working
men's Beuevolent Association, that we must tamely
submit to bankruptcy, and not strike one blow for
the defence of the property which is committed to
our charge? The laboring classes have been re
duced to starvation; the coal operators are trem
bling on the verge of insolvency; the iron trada
has been completely paralyzed, aud, looking over
the ruin and havoc they have made, the leaders of
this association see one otber interest which they
have not yet completely subdued. Because
this Interest which I now represent adopts
means of self-defence, it is represented as a grasp
ing monopoly whose existence is injurious to the
welfare of society and detrimental to the best lute
rests of the State. Is it au abuse of our charter
to attempt, by the legitimate exercise of a discre
tion vested in us by the Legislature, to preserve the
company from destruction? Have we misused our
power when we have only striven to proteot our
selves irom bankruptcy? It was part of the con
tract between the State and the company, that in
tbe managers of the latter should be vested the
descretion of establishing the rate of tolls aud
charges for transiortatlou. Why should we ba
called to account lor the manner in which that dla
cretiou has been exercised, v. hen we have acted
only in obedieuce to the natural Instincts of self
preservation? It is said tbatour charges are prohibitory; but
where is the evidence tbat one siugie ton has been
prohibited from being transported? is not the
evidence uuetmtroverled, tbatths Anthracite Board
of Trade, comprising nearly all the coal opetatot
Cvntinued on fi Third "tya.