Anthracite Coal Strike Commission

Examples of Anthracite Coal Strike Commission in the following topics:

• The Coal Strike of 1902

  • The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 is significant as the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a mediator.
  • The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania .
  • Homes and apartments were heated with anthracite or "hard" coal because it had higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal.
  • The Anthracite Coal Strike is significant because it was the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator.
  • The anthracite strike ended, after 163 days, on October 23, 1902.

• Resolving Disagreements

  • The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania.
  • The strike threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to all major cities.
  • President Theodore Roosevelt became involved and set up a fact-finding commission that suspended the strike.
  • The strike never resumed, as the miners received more pay for fewer hours; the owners got a higher price for coal, and did not recognize the trade union as a bargaining agent.
  • Governments have also relied on arbitration to resolve particularly large labor disputes, such as the Coal Strike of 1902.

• The Square Deal

  • Instead, the Interstate Commerce Commission would control the prices that railroads could charge.
  • In addition, the Interstate Commerce Commission could examine the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by standardized booking systems.
  • In May 1902, anthracite coal miners went on strike, threatening a national energy shortage.
  • After threatening the coal operators with intervention by federal troops, Roosevelt won their agreement to an arbitration of the dispute by a commission, which succeeded in stopping the strike, dropping coal prices, and retiring furnaces; the accord with J.P.
  • Furthermore, the outcome of the strike was a success for Roosevelt, who argued that the federal government could successfully intervene in conflicts between labor and capital.

• The Molly Maguires

  • The defendants were arrested by the Coal and Iron Police, who served under Gowen; Gowen, who was poised to gain financially from the destruction of the striking union, acted as prosecutor of some of the alleged Molly Maguires at their trials.
  • The union grew powerful; thirty thousand members — 85% of Pennsylvania's anthracite miners — had joined.
  • Gowen, the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as well as the Coal and Iron Company, had built a combination of his own, bringing all of the mine operators into an employers' association known as the Anthracite Board of Trade.
  • Gowen decided to force a strike and showdown, and hired Pinkerton agent James McParland to go undercover against the Mollies.
  • After six months the strike was defeated and the miners returned to work, accepting a twenty percent cut in pay.

• Economic Hardship and Labor Upheaval During the Transition to Peace

  • Combined with a major recession, labor strikes and social upheaval including race riots, this became a difficult time for the nation.
  • Rather than consenting to the appointment of commission members to counter Republican gains in the Senate, Wilson favored the prompt dismantling of wartime boards and regulatory agencies.
  • Major strikes in the steel, coal and meatpacking industries followed in 1919.
  • That same year, the government took part in ending a nationwide strike comprising about 650,000 miners.
  • The federal and state governments had no toleration for strikes and allowed businesses to sue unions for any fiscal damages that occurred during a strike.

• Mobilizing a Nation

  • The coal shortage that struck the nation in December 1917 exemplified the confusion.
  • Coal was the major source of energy and heat.
  • In 1919, the AFL tried to make its gains permanent and called a series of major strikes in meat, steel and other industries.
  • The strikes ultimately failed, however, forcing unions back to positions similar to those around 1910.
  • In March 1917, Charles Lathrop Pack organized the National War Garden Commission and launched the war garden campaign.

• The Republican Era

  • Praising the achievement of widespread prosperity in 1928, he said: "The requirements of existence have passed beyond the standard of necessity into the region of luxury. " Coolidge echoed many of Harding's Republican themes, including immigration restriction and the need for the government to arbitrate the coal strikes then ongoing in Pennsylvania; later that year Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924.
  • With the exception of favoring increased tariffs, Coolidge disdained regulation, and carried on this belief by appointing commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction.