As a descendant of Pennsylvania coal miners, I have a particular affection for those who toil in such a dangerous profession. So we're going to spend a few weeks exploring the rise of the United Mine Workers, the strike of 1902, and the period following it.

Unfortunately, death and the mines go hand in hand. Throw in a little unionism and it can be an explosive mixture. First there was the Molly Maguires, the secret Irish-American society which ran roughshod over the mines of Pennsylvania from 1865-75, killing mine officials, policemen and others before the organization was dismantled. And then you had the horrible accidents, documentation of which is hard to come by prior to 1900, but in the first two years of the new century you had an accident in Scofield, UT which claimed 200 lives, as well as Coal Creek,TN (184 lost) and Johnstown, PA (112 deaths).

[Just to finish this thought, for the 20th century, Pennsylvania had 8 separate mine tragedies of 75 deaths or more, while West Virginia had 7 such occurrences.]

For the period 1880 to 1900, industrial accidents of all kinds killed some 30,000 workers each year. The industrialists who controlled steel, oil, rail, and farming, for starters, had as much power as any president of the country. At the same time there was no limit to the hours each man, woman, and child worked, no minimum wages or compensation for accidents. Regarding this last issue, the America of this time was the only industrialized nation not to have workers comp. And as for child labor, back then some 2 million kids worked ten-hour backbreaking days in the mines.

For their part the courts were decades behind the times. For example, in 1902 Mother Mary Harris Jones was arraigned with other United Mine Workers (UMW) organizers for picketing. The trial judge ordered her to leave West Virginia, proclaiming that Mother Mary should return to the kind of work that "the Allwise Being intended her sex should pursue."

Against this backdrop you had the fledgling UMW with about 40,000 members. In 1898, John Mitchell became its president. That same year in Virden, Illinois, a riot by strikers killed 13 when employees attempted to replace striking members of the UMW with nonunion black miners. Mitchell had his work cut out for him, but within two years he had whipped it into shape.

In 1900 the railroad companies owned about 70% of the coalmines in the country. Many of the railroads were designed almost exclusively for the coal traffic and the rail lines were also known as 'coal roads,' directing the freight right from the mine. At the same time, the railroads were controlled by financial interests associated with, or directed by, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and other closely associated financiers. Since coal was the fuel that heated many of the nation's homes, it also stood to reason that the interests of the voters were in play. Thus the owners wanted to crush the union.

Late that summer the miners in Pennsylvania went on strike, ostensibly for "a wage increase (which they hadn't had in 20 years), an 8-hour workday (instead of ten), better working conditions, an end to excessive charges at company stores, and union recognition." [Jean Strouse] Morgan helped Mitchell negotiate a settlement, strikes not being in the financier's best interests. The miners won a 10% wage increase, as well as recognition of grievance committees. In turn, Mitchell guaranteed there would be no strikes for one year. But there was also no recognition of the UMW.

The promises weren't kept on either side. Regional strikes were held and the owners didn't live up to their sides of the bargain, ignoring any demands from the workers that would improve conditions.

In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated and Teddy Roosevelt became America's leader. Roosevelt went right to work, challenging the monopolies of the nation's industrialists with antitrust legislation.

And the new president was one who thought that executive power was more effective than the legislative kind. Roosevelt said that the Constitution should be "interpreted not as a straitjacket, not as laying the hand of death upon our development, but as an instrument designed for the life and healthy growth of our nation." [Paul Johnson]

Roosevelt had little respect for the industrialists of those days, particularly the mine owners. He remarked that they were backed "by a great number of businessmen whose views were limited by the narrow business horizon, and who knew nothing either of the great principles of government or of the feelings of the great mass of our people."

He once complained to a Morgan associate that the "gross blindness" of the corporations, was "putting a heavy burden on us who stand against socialism; against anarchic disorder."

In early February 1902, John Mitchell met with J.P. Morgan to discuss the possibility of a major strike, with Mitchell then reporting to Roosevelt's aide Mark Hanna that Morgan said he would "do what was right when the opportunity for action came" and that "if the railroad presidents were wrong he would not sustain them; if the miners were wrong he would not help them."

Mitchell met with the railroad presidents in May. The miners were looking to address their grievances from the 1900 job walkout. But seeing that he was getting nowhere fast, Mitchell didn't stand in the way when 140,000 miners walked off the job.

When the strike erupted, the national press generally supported the miners. The Springfield Republican expressed a widespread sentiment: "It would be difficult to conceive of a monopoly more perfectly established or operated than this monopoly which holds complete possession of a great store of nature most necessary to the life of the day."

And for his part, Mitchell made sure that the strike didn't turn violent, thus earning further accolades. The miners seemed sincere and the nation viewed their demands as reasonable. The UMW was also eager to negotiate. But on this front, the owners wouldn't budge.

Next week, Roosevelt weighs in.

Sources:

"A History of the American People," Paul Johnson
"The Presidents," edited by Henry Graff
"Morgan: American Financier," Jean Strouse
"American Heritage: The Presidents," Michael Beschloss
"The American Century," Harold Evans
"The Growth of the American Republic," Morison, Commager,
Leuchtenburg

Brian Trumbore