ike to fail if the miners
only held together. They gave such a rosy picture of the whole affair,
that many of the miners believed that the great strike would be settled
with little delay or trouble.

They were quite unprepared for the long and bitter struggle into which
it has developed, and many of them are angry with Debs and the other
agitators for misrepresenting affairs to them. Debs is therefore losing
influence with the miners just now.

On the other hand, the coal-owners are combining against him, declaring
that but for his mischievous intermeddling, everything could have been
adjusted without trouble.

The mine-owners of West Virginia have therefore sought relief through
the law, and obtained a judge's order, forbidding Debs, or any of his
fellow-agitators, from making any efforts to induce the miners to
strike.

They are forbidden to make speeches or conduct parades, or gather crowds
in the mining districts.

This is a severe blow to the agitators. The cooperation of the West
Virginia miners is also considered essential to success.

These men, like De Armitt's, have no grievances of their own for which
they need redress, and it has not been easy to persuade them that they
ought to strike for the sake of their less fortunate brothers.

To obtain any such result it is necessary to have a number of speakers
constantly talking to the men, and teaching them, and urging them.

The order forbidding speaking and persuading is a hard blow to Debs and
his workers.

He, however, declares that he is not discouraged, and that he will win
the strike in spite of every effort of the owners.

While the coal trade has been thus agitated, a curious labor difficulty
has arisen in Paterson, New Jersey.

There are, as you know, labor unions all over the country. Every trade
has its own special union. The members of these unions, when they first
join, bind themselves to be guided by the rules and laws laid down by
the officers of the union.

The United Broad Silk Weavers' Union held a meeting the other day, in
which it adopted a certain scale of wages, and sent out an order that no
member was to work for any other wages than those fixed by the Union.

When this order was sent to Paterson there was great consternation.
Nearly all the weavers there are members of the union, and when they
came to examine the new scale which they were bound to abide by, they
found it to be below the rate of wages which they were at that