Roosevelt's Actions in the Coal Strike

Running head: ROOSEVELT'S ACTIONS IN THE COAL STRIKE
ROOSEVELT'S ACTIONS IN THE COAL STRIKE
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author's Note:

1ROOSEVELT'S ACTIONS IN THE COAL STRIKE
The aim of this essay is to discuss the incident of coal strike in 1902. The miners of this
coal field demanded higher wages, recognition of their union and shorter working hour. This
particular strike created problematic situation as the winter fuel supply to major American cities
was threatened to be shut down. This is the reason why the contemporary American president
got engaged in this matter and employed a fact-finding commission to investigate the matter.
In order to understand the incident more in depth, a secondary source has been used. It is
an article published in the official website of the United States government. This article is written
by Jonathan Grossman under the name ‘The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in U.S. Policy’.
This is authentic source revealing the actual incident detailed from the perspective of the
government of the USA.
unlike previous presidents of the USA, Roosevelt acted neutrally which broke through
the anti-labor practice. In the strike situation he aimed to protect the interest of the labor and
determined to bring both the sides of the labors as well as the coal operators together to find out
the solution for this strike. He appointed new commission to investigate the reasons why the
conflicts were continuing among the operators and miners. In the meantime, with the advent of
winter, the demand of coal was increasing hence Roosevelt decided to allow the miners work
then started the negotiation process. Therefore, he proposed Cleveland, the former president of
the coal operation to investigate the matter with Carroll Wright (Grossman). In order to take the
complete responsibilities of those coal fields, Roosevelt initiated to use the US army to capture
the area. Hence, he employed a commission consisting five men; a military engineer, a mining
engineer, a judge, an expert in the coal business, and an eminent sociologist so that every
decision can be righteous and in support of the problem-solving initiatives. This commission was
gradually increasing in shape as Roosevelt wanted the public support to mitigate this issue. The

2ROOSEVELT'S ACTIONS IN THE COAL STRIKE
commission aimed to find out all the issues between these two sides so that the president could
understand the actual situation there and intervene though he had no right to do so. Roosevelt
broke protocols and took the risk of impeachment but expose his country to chaos.
Fortunately, this Anthracite Coal Strike Commission gained a huge success as the issue
pointed out by the commission, was agreed upon by both the miners as well as the coal
operators. This ended the 163-day coal strike and the president started to promote industrial
peace in this industry so that the employers take care of their employees in working hour as well
as their families (Grossman).
The second source by Livingston in the article Theodore Roosevelt, A Civil War General,
And The Battle For Labor Peace has pointed out that during the presidentship of Roosevelt, the
problems of labor unrest in the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania in 1902 was one of the
most disturbing challenge to solve. This article is much more detail and captures more incidents
than the previous one. Each and every detail in this article has been supported by the data though
the main focus remains in the president’s action of employing army in mitigating the problems of
coal mine stricken in 1902.
In order to face this challenge, the president was not actually ready as none of the
previous presidents has intervene in such trivial strikes in the American history. More than one
hundred fifty thousand miners had was engaged in the strike who ceased their work to protest
against their poor working condition and wages. Despite the fact that he was not allowed to
intervene in this situation, he left this matter upon the decisions of the mine owners and asked
them to settle the condition peacefully without the garment’s involvement. Roosevelt mainly
wanted to settle this matter in support of the mine workers so that they can execute their rights in