When he rose to the leadership of the United Mine Workers, this union had only 48,000 members, confined almost exclusively to the bituminous regions of the West.* Within the decade of his presidency he brought virtually all the miners of the United States under his leadership.Wherever his union went, there followed sooner or later the eight-hour day, raises in wages of from thirteen to twenty-five per cent, periodical joint conventions with the operators for settling wage scales and other points in dispute, and a spirit of prosperity that theretofore was unknown among the miners.
* Less than 10,000 out of 140,000 anthracite miners were members of the union.
In unionizing the anthracite miners, Mitchell had his historic fight with the group of powerful corporations that owned the mines and the railways which fed them.This great strike, one of the most significant in our history, attracted universal attention because of the issues involved, because a coal shortage threatened many Eastern cities, and because of the direct intervention of President Roosevelt.The central figure of this gigantic struggle was the miners' young leader, barely thirty years old, with the features of a scholar and the demeanor of an ascetic, marshaling his forces with the strategic skill of a veteran general.
At the beginning of the strike Mitchell, as president of the Union, announced that the miners were eager to submit all their grievances to an impartial arbitral tribunal and to abide by its decisions.The ruthless and prompt refusal of the mine owners to consider this proposal reacted powerfully in the strikers' favor among the public.As the long weeks of the struggle wore on, increasing daily in bitterness, multiplying the apprehension of the strikers and the restiveness of the coal consumers, Mitchell bore the increasing strain with his customary calmness and self-control.
After the parties had been deadlocked for many weeks, President Roosevelt called the mine owners and the union leaders to a conference in the White House.Of Mitchell's bearing, the President afterwards remarked: "There was only one man in the room who behaved like a gentleman, and that man was not I."The Board of Arbitration eventually laid the blame on both sides but gave the miners the bulk of their demands.The public regarded the victory as a Mitchell victory, and the unions adored the leader who had won their first strike in a quarter of a century, and who had won universal confidence by his ability and demeanor in the midst of the most harassing tensions of a class war.** Mitchell was cross-examined for three days when he was testifying before the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission.Every weapon which craft, prejudice, and skill could marshal against him failed to rule his temper or to lead him into damaging admissions or contradictions.
John Mitchell's powerful hold upon public opinion today is not alone due to his superior intelligence, his self possession, his business skill, nor his Irish gift of human accommodation, but to the greater facts that he was always aware of the grave responsibilities of leadership, that he realized the stern obligation of a business contract, and that he always followed the trade union policy of asking only for that which was attainable.Soon after the Anthracite strike he wrote:
"I am opposed to strikes as I am opposed to war.As yet, however, the world with all its progress has not made war impossible;neither, I fear, considering the nature of men and their institutions, will the strike entirely disappear for years to come....
"This strike has taught both capital and labor that they owe certain obligations to society and that their obligations must be discharged in good faith.If both are fair and conciliatory, if both recognize the moral restraint of the state of society by which they are surrounded, there need be few strikes.They can, and it is better that they should, settle their differences between themselves....
"Since labor organizations are here, and here to stay, the managers of employing corporations must choose what they are to do with them.They may have the union as a present, active, and unrecognized force, possessing influence for good or evil, but without direct responsibility; or they may deal with it, give it responsibility as well as power, define and regulate that power, and make the union an auxiliary in the promotion of stability and discipline and the amicable adjustment of all local disputes."
