We have to record more labor troubles.
The coal miners in the United States have gone on strike, in obedience to the order of the United Mine Workers of America.
The cause of this strike is that wages have been so reduced that the miners can no longer earn enough to support themselves.
The men declare that the strike has been forced upon them by the poor pay they have received, and that they have been expecting and preparing for it for some time past.
They hope to make the strike general, and that it shall be the biggest ever known.
The miners all over the country have been ordered to quit work, and it is expected that they will do so.
The men in West Virginia at first refused, but the latest reports are that they are gradually falling in line with the rest.
In many districts the miners have been offered the price they ask if they will only go back to work. They have invariably refused, saying that they will not resume work until the better rate of wages is made general in all the mines.
There is danger of a coal famine if the strike lasts very long.
Several of the Western manufacturing cities are already running short of coal, and though there is plenty at the pit's mouth, the strikers will not allow it to be handled until their demands are complied with.