Troops on the Coal Line: Roslyn's Strike Hardens
Federal troops move toward Roslyn as the coal company prepares to import strikebreakers, and miners weigh whether to trust organizer Norton.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
ELLENSBURG, July 24—[Special.] Twenty-five men from the two companies of regular troops camped here went to Roslyn this afternoon. Little is known regarding this move, but it is supposed to be in connection with the refusal of the miners there to go to work, and the determination of the coal company to bring men from Pittsburgh, Tenn., to take their places.
ROSLYN, July 24.—[Special.]—The United Mine Workers of Roslyn held a meeting yesterday to listen to the report of the state organizer, who had just returned from the West Side camps. Organizer Norton, the Populist orator, reported that he had made good progress, but his work was in some measure handicapped by the failure of the railroad strike. He all but advised the men here to go to work, but his expressions fell upon many unwilling ears, and the men decided by ballot to continue to hold out for the 10 per cent compromise. Several of the leading miners are suspicious of Norton, and are slow to take his advice, as they think the members of the management of the company can influence him. He has political aspirations also, and many think that Norton is desirous of settling the difficulty in a way to further his personal ends. The local union directed him to return to the West Side and proceed with the work of organization, and he left this afternoon. It is generally understood that all negotiations between the company and men are at an end.
“The men decided by ballot to continue to hold out for the 10 per cent compromise.”
The Roslyn coal strike was one of Washington's bitterest labor fights, with troops, strikebreakers and a union organizer suspected of serving the company. The same questions—who controls the workplace, whether outside workers can be used to break a strike, and how far government will go to protect employers—still shape labor politics in Washington.
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