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Show ' History Made at Scranton. HISTORY is being made at "Scranton, "Scran-ton, Pa., where sits the arbitration arbitra-tion commission, taking testimony testi-mony upon'' the causes and results of the great . coal strike. John Mitchell, the president of, the miners' organization, organiza-tion, has occupied the . witness, stand for nearly five days. He was regarded as the principal witness in the affair. As well say he Is the only witness in the case; because no matter who follows fol-lows Mitchell, the case for the miners cannot be weakened nor the side of the operators strengthened. . Aside from the end the commission has in view, there turned up in dialogue dia-logue between counsel . and witness much that was interesting, much that goes to modify one's exalted opinion of the lawyer and revise his own views upon the unlettered man of the common com-mon people: Wayne MacVeagh, erstwhile erst-while cabinet officer under Cleveland, was the attorney of one of the coal corporations. Because of his trans-ceridant trans-ceridant ability,' his skill in cross-examination, he was selected by the operators op-erators to conduct what may be called the prosecution. The operators confidently confi-dently hoped that Wayne Mac Veagh's presence, even the sound of his voice in ironical inquiry would be sufficient to confuse the witness or cause him to lose . temper under the lash of insult. Nothing of that nature overcame the witness. The replies of John Mitchell to the operators' counsel were manly and dignified, serving to give added information to the commission and at the same time put the prosecuting attorney at-torney really on the defensive. Wayne MacVeagh caught a tartar when he caught John Mitchell, and when he let go, he was man enough to acknowledge that the witness really got the best of the interrogator. Those who are ready to give Mitchell too much adulation over the result of his encounter with MacVeagh, should reflect that. Mitchell stood upon firmer ground. No truer saying goes than this, that "thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel just." The wonder begins over the thought that labor unions never nev-er beforeViproduced such a remarkable man as Mitchell. The wonder does not cease over another thought, that Mitchell is not a product of the skilled trades, where intelligence harmonizes with the day's v)rk, hut he comes up from the smut of the shaft, a philosopher philos-opher in overalls. All his environments environ-ments were against the knowledge which was his in order to answer such a lawyer as Wayne MacVeagh. Some of Mr. Mitchell's replies were just as ironical as the questions put by counsel; and some of them betrayed the Celtic wit of the witness. Here is an incident during the examination, which we clip from the published report: re-port: - Mr. MacVeagh took up the suggestion sugges-tion for a yearly agreement and attempted at-tempted to show that the union could not control its members, and therefore an agreement is impracticable. Mr. Mitchell said there were many differences that both sides justly complained com-plained of and which he had hoped would be wiped out by agreements. "I dare say," Mr. Mitchell remarked, "if our union violates the contract the people peo-ple of this country will take good care that we have no union left. There will be no question about that, and if the operators- violate it the people of the United States will see that they regret re-gret it." 1 Mr. Mitchell said this -was a country of majorities, whereupon Mr. MacVeagh Mac-Veagh replied: "Yes, but God with one is a majority. If a man 'is doing right he is on his side." The court room was convulsed when Mr. Mitchell answered that he would be willing to leave the 'Whole dispute to God. ' , - r . . |