Digging Dusky Diamonds by John R. Lindermuth

In 1900, John Mitchell, president of the UMW, successfully led a strike against bituminous coal field owners. Demand for coal was high, and miners worked arduously, in dangerous conditions and for little pay.

Defining Momentīy the turn of the twentieth century, the United States was heavily dependent on coal for virtually every aspect of life, including transportation, home heating, factory operation, and many other elements of industrialized society. His testimony was later published in the April 1903 issue of Cassier’s Magazine, a monthly engineering journal. Baer also argued that any reduction in “exertion” by workers would result in lower production and, therefore, less pay for the workers. Baer testified that the 163-day anthracite coal strike conducted by the United Mine Workers (UMW) union was illegal and that the “lawlessness” and reckless conditions in the mines were created not by mine owners but by the workers and the unions themselves. In a series of hearings on the conditions of American coal mines that lasted from October 1902 to February 1903, Philadelphia and Reading Railroad president George F.

Digging Dusky Diamonds by John R. Lindermuth