Rivalry for control of the industry led to over expansion, violent business fluctuations, and eventually control by a few large independent mine owners, coal railroads, and bankers.įor miners the work was hard, intermittent, and hazardous. Anthracite coal, because it burned cleaner than soft coal, had become the main heating fuel in many Eastern cities. Unlike soft coal, anthracite was a natural monopoly heavily concentrated in a few hundred square miles in five counties in Pennsylvania. Anthracite coal at the turn of the century was an unusual business. John Mitchell, who at the age of 28 became president of the United Mine Workers in 1898, hoped to achieve the same kind of success in the anthracite or hard coalfields of Pennsylvania. Coal companies prospered, and union membership soared from 10,000 to 115,000. Both sides struck a bonanza as operators raised both wages and prices. A depression in 1893 forced down wages and, according to a Pennsylvania legislative committee, many miners lived 'like sheep in shambles.' A spontaneous uprising had forced many mine owners to sign a contract with the United Mine Workers. The groundwork for the 1900 anthracite coal strike was laid by the unexpected results of strikes in the bituminous or soft coalfields in 1897. The law had not yet been applied when a new Federal policy erupted from the industrial warfare in the coalfields in 19. One recommendation provided the basis for the Erdman Act of 1898, under which the Commissioner of Labor and the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission tried to mediate railroad strikes. Wright headed a group which made a colorless but honest report of the dispute. In 1888, Congress passed a law aimed at promoting industrial peace in the railroad industry. In 1886, Cleveland asked Congress to 'engraft' on the Bureau of Labor a commission to prevent major strikes. Congress established a Bureau of Labor in 1884, which was the forerunner of the present Department of Labor, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here and there a ray of neutrality broke through the anti labor atmosphere. 5 Grover Cleveland used soldiers to break the Pullman strike of 1894. Hayes sent troops to prevent obstruction of the mails. 4 In the violent rail strikes of 1877, Rutherford B. 3 War Department employees operated the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad during the Civil War. Andrew Jackson became a strikebreaker in 1834 when he sent troops to the construction sites of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In the 19th century, presidents, if they acted at all, tended to side with employers. Government from strikebreaker to peacemaker in industrial disputes.

meet the crying needs of the people.' He appealed to the patriotism of the contestants to make 'individual sacrifices for the general good.' 2 ,' the President urged, 'I ask that there be an immediate resumption of operations in the coal mines in some such way as will. 'With all the earnestness there is in me.

Roosevelt, who had been injured a month earlier when his carriage was hit by a trolley car, sat in his wheelchair pleading with representatives of management and labor. with the certainty of riots which might develop into social war.' 1 Although he had no legal right to intervene, he sent telegrams to both sides summoning them to Washington to discuss the problem. A great strike in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania threatened a coal famine. On Friday, October 3, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt called a precedent-shattering meeting at the temporary White House at 22 Lafayette Place, Washington, D.C. The Federal Government, with the Commissioner of Labor in a fact finding role, acted as a 'neutral' for the first time in contributing to settlement of the bitter coal strike

Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS).

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOMBD).

Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP).

Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO).

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP).

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM).

Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).

Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA).Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ).Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).Employment and Training Administration (ETA).Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB).Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB).

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