MITCHELL, THE HERO OF THE AMERICAN COAL WAR.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4871, 24 January 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

MITCHELL, THE HERO OF THE AMERICAN COAL WAR.

The "American Monthly Review ol Reviews - ' is lull of tho great strike. The credit of me settlement is given by Mr Vi alter Wellman 10 Mr I'ierpont Morgan.

“Xuo” brain of ilium Root nad supplied the idea; the power of Pierpont Morgan clothed it with life." He brought the masters to reason. Mr A rilinnn adds that Mr J. R. Morgan believes in organised labour, and docs not believe that tho right of combination should be enjoyed by capital while it is denied to lauour. Rut tne chief interest of the reader centres in .lohu Mitchell, the labour leader and the man as sketched by 1' rami Julian AVsinie. Mitchell is described as a “lull-faced, cieau-shaveu man, with annp-set luminous eyes, firm mouth and a high forehead, with the brown, almost black, hair brushed carelessly back on the right side, as if by the lingers. He. assured his interviewer: I am not a Socialist, and do not believe in Socialism. I do not bvlievo it would be best for the State to own and operate her coal mines. I am a strict trade unionist. I believe in progress slowly—by evolution rather than by revolution. . . . Tho principle that governs our organisation is that of trade-unionism, pure and simple—of labour’s_ joint bargaining with capital for a fair share of that which labour helps to produce. Wo believe in securing this by peaceable means—through arbitration, if possible—and. if not in this way, then by the only remaining wav left to us. A FEW TYPE OF LABOUR LEADER. He means to organise labour, to check the tendency to lower wages, to eniorce a living wage ior less than which no labourer should work. Mr Waruo proj oh'u Mitchell is a now typo of labour leader. Ho is not a demagogue; a harauguer; a typical agitator. ills Jiublic speeches ana statements show this. They do not overflow with flowery metaphors appealing to tile passions and prejudices ol iiis followers; but, for the most part, they are biiaiuoss-like presentations of conditions as he sees them, appealing to tim reason. At no time in the history of the labour movement in country have such remarkable manifestoes been issued by any leader as have been his replies to the operators and his Presentations to tlio public of tho miners side of the controversy during the progress of the strike just closed. His point of view—his regarding labour as a com-modity-ami his lucid power of explanation, as evidenced in his statements and public addresses, show that a labour leader of a new school cf thought and action has come to the front. He is. lirst oi all, a business man in the labour movement; ho leads organised labour as "our captain of industry” manages a great commercial or industrial combination. He treats labour as a commodity. That particular amount which the United. Mine Workers controls is for sale; his organisation wants the highest price it can get for it; ho realises, at tho same time, that the purchasers—the railroad-mining companies—like all consumers, want to get tin's labour, at as low a price as possible- These two opposite points of view, he believes, can be reconciled by the two parties most interested “bargaining” as to tho price of labour. This is done between capital and labour in ten of the srit-coal jiroducing States in joint annual conference. . , . Such a plan President Mitchell is striving to secure for the hard coal industry. To it the operators . objected. Then ho suggested arbitration: “Let a disinterested third party determine what shall be tho price of mine labour.” ho said. To this also tho operators objected. Then the only course remaining, he believed, was for labour to refuse tho price the intending purchasers offered until they came nearer the price asked by tho representatives of this labour. Tho waiting period is called “a strike.” This is why 117,000 men and boys in the three hard-coal fields, morn than nvo months ago, laid down their tools for an indefinite period. FROM PIT-BOY TO PRESIDENT.

Xlis life-story is shortly told:—• Deprived of his mother within two, ami of his father within four, years of Ins birth—on February 4th. 1909—Jehu Mitchell was early in life left* in the care of his stepmother. His schooling was meagre, and was secured only at intervals when there was no demand for his labour on the farm. Thrown upon his own resources when but thirteen years of age, he entered the mines at his birthplace in Braidwood, 111. Three years later, while employed in the mines at Bracevillo, 111., be was brought under the influence of the labour movement, at that time directed by the* Knights of Labour. It made him restless, and. with the indomitable will of his Irish parentage, lie set out determined to see something of the world. Drifting back to the Illinois coalfields in 18SC. ho became a mine-worker at Spring Valley, and took an active part in the trade union movement there as president of the Knights of Labour “Local.” When twenty-two veers of age he married Miss Katherine O’Kourke. of Spring Valley: five children have been born to them, of whom four are living. At one time he served as President of the Spring Valley Board of Education.

Thirsting for knowledge, ho read everything that came within his reach; joined debating societies, athletic associations, independent political reform clubs, and various vsocial organisations, in which inauii opportunities came to him to exercise his mental faculties and to cultivate the art of speech-making. A ready talker with great personal magnetism, he quickie formed friends, and was rapidly promoted to positions ,of honour and Wlien the United Mine Workers of America was organised,-in January, IS3O, he was among the first to be enrolled as a member in his district. HIS FRUGAL HA-BITS. He rose to be President in 1899, and has been re-elected each year since, he is second Vice-president of the American Federation of Labour, and a member of various committees of the National Civic Federation: — | Trained in simplicity of living, he remains democratic in ail his habits. Except when pressed with business matters, he is approachable by anyone wishing to see or meet him. He leads, and yet tiro men who follow him believe that he is but their servant carrying out their expressed wishes. With his frugal habits, and comparatively small salary, there is no place for "high living” or excesses that undermine mental vigour. In any industrial or compiercial pursuit his marked abilitv for organising and leading men would command many times hi s present yearlv salary of . 1800 dollars (.£360). HIS ACHIEVEMENT AND HIS AIM. All his former exploits are said to be overshadowed by his recent victory: After five months of bitter warfare ho has fought to a successful termination the greatest conflict between capital and labour ever waged in the history of the world. He has advanced, the cause of labour by leaps and bounds; he has ushered in the period when peace through arbitration promises to reign supreme over our industrial world in place of war through strikes and lock-outs. It is too early yet to realise the tremendous imnortmico of this one accomplishment. This much seems clear, however—by it a new era has been entered upon. Not the least of its effects will be the widening of the scone of the office of the President of the United States. John Mitchell's present aim is to organise thoroughly ai] the 455,000 mine cmnlovpee in the United States into the United Mine Workers of America. That ho will aceomnl’sh this purpose, unless sooner called lo higher honours and wider fields of usefulness, no one who knows the man and his work entertains the least doubt.