1916 Wilkes-Barre Record Almanac LUZERNE COUNTY IN 1915 The year 1915 saw considerable relief from the serious industrial depression of the previous year, due, in large measure, to the stimulating influence upon all industry created by the demand for was material and other products abroad. A few of the Luzerne County industries were engaged in the manufacture of material to be used in war. ___________________ Early in the year the Luzerne County Farm Bureau became a reality and Herbert N. Cobb was the first agent employed. In this enterprise the federal government, State College and the county commissioners cooperated by a division of the cost, the federal government giving $1,200 a year, State College $100, the county $1,500, and the remainder to be made up from dues paid by farmers and others. Mr. Cobb traveled over the county considerably, consulting with and advising farmers with the purpose of improving the yield of the farms. ___________________ The flood prevention problem continued to be a subject of interest. The report of Col. Beach of the federal government, under whose auspices a survey of river conditions had been made recommended that embankments be erected, that bridges that have not 1,500 feet span be rebuilt, that the Nanticoke dam be removed, that the sharp projection near Ross street be removed and the culm deposits be taken out of the river. No estimate of the cost was given. The report was only preliminary. It was the intimated that later a more detailed survey would be made, upon which the localities and the county could base plans for eliminating the flood nuisance, in part at least. In June representatives of the municipalities met and formed an organization but it did little during the remainder of the year. A committee of the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce considered the problem and advocated as a first step, the removal of the Nanticoke dam. Nothing else of much account t was done during the remainder of the year. The interest of the federal government in the project was increased by reason of the fact that the Susquehanna river had been included in the class of navigable streams. ___________________ In twelve months 112 divorces were granted by the county courts, ---nearly twice as many as 1900. ___________________ During the early part of the year Luzerne’s bonded indebtedness reaching $3,100,000 and the cost of running the county in 1914 was $2,151,352. ___________________ STREET CAR STRIKE The first street car strike of the traction company early in the year. The principle demand of the employees was for an increase of wages from twenty-four to thirty-two cents an hour. After a series of conferences the company officials agreed to submit the wage question to arbitration, all other differences having been adjusted, including the demand that employees be given a hearing before being discharged. Federal and State mediators had been summoned and they were largely instrumental in effecting the arrangement. After considerable haggling two arbitrators were chosen, Thomas Shea representing the men and Samuel Warriner the company, but they failed to agree upon the third man within the time limit. The controversy again reached an acute stage owing to the failure to arrive at an agreement as to the final arbitrator and on the last day of March a federal mediator and a State mediator came to Wilkes-Barre to endeavor to avert a strike. On the first of April the men on the entire system went on strike and not a car was moved, the company making no effort to do so. The company offered a compromise of twenty-six cents an hour without the arbitration but this the men refused to accept. Many buses and jitney automobiles carried passengers to all parts of the valley and some of the railroads put on extra trains, but the jitney service was so satisfactory that the railroad trains were soon taken off. There was no serious inconvenience on the part of the public. The names of a large number of men were suggested for third arbitrator but they were objected to either by the company or by the men. Finally, April 7, the employees’ committee suggested the name of John Price Jackson, State Commissioner of Labor and Industry, and the following day the traction company officials agreed to him and the men decided to go to work pending arbitration. The jitney service in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity remained after the settlement of the first strike, dozens of automobiles carrying from five to seven passengers running from Public Square to points in the city and suburbs. The evident recklessness of some of the drivers resulted in numerous accidents some of them fatal, and Wilkes-Barre councils finally entered upon the task of regulating the service. An ordinance was passed demanding a bond or other approved security and there was vigorous protest on the part of the jitney owners, who claimed that they were being discriminated against. They finally appealed their case to court in the latter part of the year. July 10 the arbitrators rendered their decision, wages being fixed at from twenty-four cents an hour for the first year men to twenty-six and three-fourths cents an hour for the five year men and longer. It was also decided that the men should share in the profits, including a percentage of increased revenue per car hour above a certain basis. Mr. Shea, the arbitrator representing the employees, refused to sigh the award. His main objection was to the sliding scale of compensating, holding that the arbitrators were not authorized to make such an arrangement. Affairs dragged along until early in October, when Dr. Jackson, the umpire, came to Wilkes-Barre to consider what further steps should be taken. October 11 Dr. Jackson and Mr. Shea issued a statement in which they expressed the opinion that the objection of the employees was well founded, that possibly the arbitrators were without authority in including the sliding scale. They were in favor of reopening the case but since the company would not consent to this, Messrs, Jackson and Shea withdrew, leaving the whole affair as it was in the beginning. October 14 the street car men again went on strike because of the company’s refusal to reopen arbitration proceedings and travel was entirely suspended. Scores of jitney’s operated by private parties covered all the territory reached by the street cars. On October 19 the company issued a statement to the effect that it considered the award final and stated elaborate argument to which the men replied. It agreed to submit to the court the question whether the award was not legally binding upon all parties. October 20 the company served notice that the employees would be given ten days to return to work, and if they did not do so the company would take it for granted that they desired to leave the company’s employ. Then the strike drifter into a notable deadlock. The company brought a number of strike breakers and housed them in the Wood Street car barn and the operation of cars on a few lines was attempted. Immediately disorder broke out. In the centre of the city crowds gathered and hurled stones and other missiles through car windows and threatened the strike breakers. It was not expected that such scenes would be enacted on the central streets of Wilkes-Barre. Mayor Kosek issued a proclamation calling upon all citizens to observe the law and maintain order and many extra policemen, mounted and on foot, were sworn in. Members of the State Constabulary in barracks at Wyoming turned out to assist outside of the city and another company was called to this locality. Gradually the company opened up other lines and much trouble was experienced. Few people rode on the cars. Cars were attacked at various times. No cars were run at night and none at all on some of the lines to the end. On Thanksgiving Day a large crowd on Public Square assembled and the police were unable to cope with it, through no damage of any account was done. On the Sunday following similar scenes were witnessed. A crowd followed several strike breakers and they took refuge in Hotel Sterling and policemen blocked the entrances against the crowd. On various occasions strike breakers used firearms, but no one was hurt. At various times a number of strike breakers were badly used up and some were taken to the hospitals. It appeared that in must instances the crowds were made up largely of boys and young men who at the outset had no particular purpose in assembling. In the meantime State mediators were on hand endeavoring to bring about a settlement. Committees of the Chamber of Commerce and the East Market Business Men’s Association were energetic. The Governor was appealed to and he stated that he would be willing to hear from both sides, but the traction officials would not request a conference, though they would be willing to appear if invited to do so. November 29 each side submitted a statement on the basis of which a settlement might be reached, but after a conference it was announced that each side had rejected the other side’s proposals. The proposition of the men was as follows: That all men who participated in the strike be reinstated to their former positions. That part of the working agreement pertaining to the settling of grievances between the properly accredited officers and committees of the association shall be interpreted to include any international officers whom Division 164 may choose to represent them. That we have a protective clause which gives a discharged employee an opportunity to have his case submitted to a disinterested board of arbitration whose decision shall be final. That the legality of the award of July 10 be submitted to a disinterested board of arbitration of citizens residing in Luzerne County, the company to choose one arbitrator, the association to choose one arbitrator, and the two so selected shall choose the third. We are willing to take up with the company the matter of negotiating the flat scale of wages. The proposition of the company was as follows: We will agree to submit the question of the legality and the finality of the award of July 10, 1915 to Hon. Charles E. Rice. We agree that the working agreement of January 9, 1915, shall be construed so that it shall give the right to the members of local 164 to be represented by such national officer or officers as they select. The members of sail local who were in employee of the company October 14 shall return to work when Judge Rice has consented to act. If Judge Rice shall decide that the award of July 10 is valid, the men shall be paid from the date of their return to work and until the first day of January, 1918, under the terms of the award. If Judge Rice shall decide that the award of July 10, 1915, is not final the men shall be paid until the first day of January 18, 1918, a flat rate per hour equivalent to the reduction to a flat rate of the graduated scale of the award, omitting the income sharing scheme from the calculation. At this stage of the strike these pages of the Record almanac went to press. ___________________ The Central Poor District almshouse report for the year 1914 made the remarkable statement that among 424 adult cases admitted during the year there was not a single total abstainer from alcoholic drink and seventy-five per cent. Of the cases were of intemperate drinkers. ___________________ Weather conditions were notable for the rainy Summer. There was no serious flood in the Spring. On January 8 the river reached a height of eighteen and three-tenths feet, and on February 26, owing to rain and warm weather, a height of twenty-three and three-tenths feet was reached. April was the hottest April since 1896, the thermometer going to 91 degrees on the 25th and 26th. On July 10 the river at Wilkes-Barre reached a height of twenty-two and a half feet. The highest mid-summer record within memory. On August 7 the water again went to a height of fifteen feet. During July there was some rain almost every day, and August was not much better. In September there was a spell of very hot weather, the thermometer registering above ninety degrees for several days, reaching a maximum of ninety-four. The Winter was about average in temperature. There were only a few severe spells. ___________________ Three notable revival campaigns were conducted in the county during the year, in Hazleton by Evangelist Stough, in Plymouth by G. W. Anderson and in Pittston by Mr. Crabill. Each conducted services for a number of weeks in a large tent. The converts in the three places numbered nearly ten thousand people. Mr. Stough became so severe in his arrangement of certain Hazleton officials that a libel suit was brought against him and it was heard by arbitrators, who rendered a verdict against him. He appealed the decision. ___________________ The work of the local branch of the American Red Cross Association for the relief of sufferers by the war in Europe was continued during the early part of the year. Many volunteer workers enlisted and considerable money and many boxes of goods and provisions were sent out from Wilkes-Barre and vicinity. A ball given in the armory in January under the auspices of the local branch was attended by over a thousand people. Many urgent appeals for the help were made, particularly for the starving people of Belgium. Although many hundreds of foreigners of military age, not citizens of this country, resided in the county, no general call for a return home was issued, but a number went of their own accord. The Luzerne County Branch of the German-American Alliance passed a resolution of protest against the shipment of munitions of war from the United States. ___________________ On March 29 the first regular trains were run on the Wilkes-Barre Connecting Railway, extending from Buttonwood, across the river, over the West Side flats, re-crossing the river at North Wilkes-Barre, the link connecting the Pennsylvania with the Delaware & Hudson for the interchange of coal and freight. ___________________ In a case carried up from the borough of Ashley, the court decided in April that a municipality had no right to regulate the opening and closing hours of saloons, aside from those specifically mentioned in the law. ___________________ The fiftieth anniversary of the surrender of Lee to Grant on the 9th of April, practically the close of the Civil War, was made the occasion for the observance with special exercises by the G.A.R. and affiliated organizations in the country. In September a number of local veterans attended the annual G.A.R. encampment in Washington and marched again along Pennsylvania Avenue as they did in the grand review half a century ago. ___________________ Owing to the unusually hard times and the idleness of many wage earners, the United Charities, with the cooperation of the Chamber of Commerce and the poor board, opened a relief station in Wilkes-Barre in March. It was kept open for four weeks and during that time 2,100 meals were served in the rooms and 228 pails of soup were given out. The largest number of applicants on one day was 138. After being open for four weeks the station was closed April 15, owing to the approach of warm weather and some improvement in labor conditions. Hard times prevailed all over the East, due, it was claimed, to the effect of the Democratic tariff. The placing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of orders for the war material and other exports for the European countries at was relieved the extraordinary industrial depression. ___________________ Considerable interest was shown in the county over Governor Brumbaugh’s effort to have the Legislature go on record in favor of local opinion. Petitions were circulated in the churches and other organizations and many speeches were made. When the bill came to a vote in the House or Representatives five of the eight Luzerne representatives voted against it and three for it. It having been defeated in the House, the Senators did not go on record. ___________________ Another subject of the local interest in the Legislature was the attempt to change the Roney law, passed at the previous session, which provided for a direct tax of two and a half per cent. Of the value of a ton of anthracite coal when taken from the mine, the proceeds to be divided equally between the State and the anthracite counties, the county’s portion to be divided among the various municipalities in the county. Governor Brumbaugh endeavored to change the bill so that the State’s share would be sixty per cent. Of the taxation, leaving forty per cent. for the counties. Vigorous protest went up from Luzerne County and other anthracite sections, and the Governor finally relinquished his effort, leaving the fifty-fifty provisions unchanged. The Legislature, however changed the manner of distribution so that the share of each anthracite county would be distributed only among those municipalities in the county that produced coal. This was done to avoid possible constitutional objections. In the meantime a case under the original bill to test the constitutionality of the law was instituted in the Dauphin County court by the coal companies and Judge Kunkel upheld the law of 1913. It was appealed to the Supreme Court and that tribunal declared the law of 1913 unconstitutional. The coal companies collected the tax from those whom they sold coal but pending a final decision no money was turned into the State treasury. There was much speculation as to what would become of the money in the hands of the coal companies since the Supreme Court decided against the law. Many of the wholesalers and retailers kept no record of sales and individual consumers would gin it exceedingly difficult to secure reimbursement for the amounts they paid. The problem had not been decided when the almanac went to press. The later law of 1915 similar in many respects to the law of 1913, was not taken into the court up to the middle of December. It is probable that it too will be declared unconstitutional. ___________________ During the year the Luzerne County assessors made a reduction of about $5,000,000 in the assessment value of coal, for the coal mined during the previous year. ____________________ In July the court handed down a decision in the long-standing appeal of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company from the 1907 assessment of Franklin colliery coal land. Judges Garman and O’Boyle concurred in the majority opinion, Judge Strauss do not participate because of having been interested as attorney in the trial of a previous case, and Judge Fuller dissented from the conclusions. The majority opinion sustained the old board of the county commissioners, which raised the valuation to approximately $3,000 an acre for a virgin tract sixty-one in the thickness. Judge Fuller filed a minority opinion in which he stood by his former decision, affirmed by the Supreme Court, reducing the value considerably below that fixed by the county commissioners. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. There is also pending the case of the new board of assessors, who fixed a valuation for coal land, considerably higher than that of the old county commissioners. ____________________ During the year an organization known as the Luzerne County Taxpayers’ Association was formed. It grew out of a meeting of prominent Wilkes-Barre property owners to protest against a large increase in the assessment value of property in the business section of the city and against alleged discriminations. It was decided to take up taxation problems in general, and other subjects relating to the welfare of the taxables. ___________________ In September occurred the death of Mrs. Antonette Vostry of Glen Lyon aged one hundred and five years. ___________________ The new bridge crossing the river from Wyoming to Port Blanchard, erected by the county at a cost of $182,000, was opened for traffic in September, and the river bridge at Nanticoke was opened earlier in the year. It cost $278,500. ___________________ The first suffrage parade was held in Wilkes-Barre on the evening of October 29, in the interest of the suffrage amendment of the Constitution, which was voted on November 2. About 700 women turned out and made a creditable demonstration. Society women and factory women, in fact all classes of women mingled together, enthusiastic for the cause. ___________________ QUALIFICATIONS OF VOTERS. General Elections. Every male citizen, 21 years of age possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections, subject, however , to such laws requiring and regulating the registration o electors as the General Assembly may enact: First --- Hew shall have been a citizen of the United States at least one month. Second --- He shall have resided in the State one year ( or, having a native born citizen of the State, he shall have removed therefrom and returned, then six months), immediately preceding the election. Third --- He shall have resided in the election district where he shall offer to vote at least two months immediately preceding the election. Fourth --- If 22 years of age and upwards he shall have paid within two years a State or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least two months and paid at least one month before the election.