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April, 1905 C O A L A N D T I M B E R 17
ply of cheap fuel, mills and factories long
the prohibitive point. With a renewed supply
of cheap fuel mills and factories long
idle were enabled to resume and thousands
of workmen were given employment and
manufacturers profitable operations. The
breaking up of the winter was something
in which every station of man in this part
of the country will in some way benefit.
The great results can merely be approximated.
Such quickening of the pulse of
industry starts in a diverging circle and
affects hundreds of thousands of people
whether toiler or capitalist. It is for the
common weal. All the long course of the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers will gladly and
quickly respond to the abundance which
this supply of fuel will mean. The parts of
West Virginia and Kentucky which are in
proximity with the great water courses
will benefit equally and the resultant good
will, in turn, be felt by the nation.
IMPORTANT LEGISLATION.
Bill No. 319, introduced in the Legislature
of West Virginia and enacted into a law, will
be watched in its operation by coal and coke
operators and employers of labor generally
with the keenest interest. It is styled: "A
Bill prohibiting the use of decepton, misrepresentation,
false advertising and false pretenses,
and unlawful force in the procuring
of employes to work in any department of
labor in this state and fixing penalties criminal
and civil for violation thereof." The
bill further explains itself as follows:
"That it be unlawul for any person, persons,
company, corporation, society, association
or organization of any kind, doing
business in this state, by himself, themselves,
his, its or their agents or attorneys,
to induce, influence, persuade or engage
workmen to change from one place to another
in this state, or to bring workmen
of any class or calling into this state to
work in any of the departments of labor in
this state, through or by means of false or
deceptive representation, false advertising.
or false pretenses, concerning the kind and
character of the work to be done, or amount
and character of compensation to be paid
for such work, or the sanitary or other conditions
of the employment, or as to the
existence or non-existence of a strike or
other trouble, pending between employer
and employees, at the time of or prior to
such engagement, failure to state in any
advertisement, proposal or contract for the
employment of workmen, that there is a
strike, lock-out or other labor troubles at
the place of the said employment, when in
fact such strike, lock-out or other labor
troubles then actually exists at that place,
shall be deemed as false advertisement and
misrepresentation for purpose of this act."
The penal section of this sweeping legislation
provides for a fine of $2,000, or imprisonment
in a county jail for one year, or
both.
As above stated, the operation of this
legislation will be watched with the keenest
interest not only in West Virginia but
throughout the nation generally. It seems
that it is an act aimed directly at what is
commonly called "strike-breaking." In all
legislation which has for its purpose the
effecting of reform of whatever sort it is of
vital importance to so far as possible to
forecast the operation of the law. Any
legislation which is devised to do away with
a practice thought to be pernicious should
be examined as to whether or not worse
practices may not result. The importation
of labor from one fieldto another has oftentimes
been followed by evil results but it
is a question whether this is always the case
or whether it is in the majority of instances.
There are two sides to all such disputes and
the employer is as much entitled to an
audience as is the employed. Sometimes
drastic legislation, as this appears to be
on first blush, is really beneficial as heroic
cures are in medicine, but too frequently
radical laws prove retroactive and do fully
as much harm as good. The operation of
this law may do much for both employer
and employee in West Virginia. It may
compel them to adjust their differences
among themselves much as family quarrels
should be adjusted. It is to be hoped that
this will prove to be the case if the law
is finally decided by the courts to be constitutional,
for doubtless they will be called
upon to pass upon it should it be enforced.
I
I . I i
SERIES OF
CARTOONS.
Beginning with this number, Cod
and Timber will issue each month a
cartoon which will be of special significance
to some department of the
industries which it represents. In
addition to being printed in the magazine,
the cartoons will be printed on
heavy plate paper, suitable for framing.
They will be of such nature as
to make very desirable office ornaments.
The entire set of twelve cartoons
which will be published, will
be sent to every subscriber now on
the lists or to those who send in their
names during this month.
RIVER AND CANAL BOTH.
Chimirical, possibly
even yet, does the
great project pf digging and completing the
canal across the isthmus of Panama seem.
That wonderful improvement is coming so
surely as will the sun rise and set. The
tremendous undertaking has been taken on
by the United States and this nation's credit
and international standing is at stake.
What the completion of the colossal
scheme will mean to the nation even the
wildest dreamer cannot conceive. What it
will mean to this section of the country is
beyond the ken of living man. This part
of the country, richest in minerals, will reap
a boundless harvest, for the opening of the
isthmian canal will secure for it a vaster
market than is possible to reach now bv
ordinary means of transportation.
With the opening of the canal, Western
Pennsylvania, Western and Southern Ohio,
Northern West Virginia, Northern Kentucky,
Southern Indiana and Illinois will
insist upon the permanent and adequate improvement
of the Ohio river. To give all
of this resourceful and vast region the
fullest benefit of the Panama canal, Congress
must authorize the deepening of the
Ohio river and proper slack water navigation
at all times of this great tributary of
the Mississippi.
That this project will be carried on hand
in hand with the digging of the great ditch
across the isthmus, there can be little doubt.
This part of the country is vitally interested
in the completion of that wonderful
enterprise butit is more nearly concerned in
the making possible the navigation of our
own streams as a means to availing ourselves
of the greater improvement.
In the passage of the last river and harbor
bill which carried about $3,000,000 for improvements
for the Ohio and its tributary
streams. Congress shows to the country that
it intends to carry on the work of bettering
the inland waterways of this section of the
country. Though the most ardent advocates
of river improvement were doubtless disappointed
that thej' did not realize more
from their work, yet they must feel tliMit
much has been accomplished and that this
is a foothold within the door and that the
work will proceed.
BETTER DAYS AT HAND.
The severity of the past winter had its
effect upon the coal trade, whicli was at
once dispiriting and enervating. The impossibilities
of securing adequate transportation
for much of the fuel mined, especially
that which finds its way to the markets of
the country by means of the rivers, caused
a falling off in production. This affected
both the operator and the miner. It WMIS
undoubtedly a hard winter but will soon be
forgotten because it has passed and bettcr
days are at hand. The railroads were affected
seriously too for several months by
the unusually severe weather which prevailed
without any interruption. It was :r
physical impossibility to transport the cars
so fast as they were needed by both mine
operator and the markets. At present the
outlook is brighter than it has been for
months almost years. There are absolutely
no signs of halting in the industrial and
manufacturing world and the cry from all
parts of the country is for fuel; a steady
and abundant supply of coal. It's an '11
wind that blows no good and the months
of scarcity of fuel in the markets will be followed
by an abundance for which a good
price will be paid and for wdiich there will
be an unceasing demand. The orders are in
for every mill and factory to turn out all
of its product that they possibly can an 1
vast quantities of coal are needed,