inning of the strike Mitchell, as president of the Union,
announced that the miners were eager to submit all their grievances
to an impartial arbitral tribunal and to abide by its decisions. The
ruthless and prompt refusal of the mine owners to consider this proposal
reacted powerfully in the strikers' favor among the public. As the
long weeks of the struggle wore on, increasing daily in bitterness,
multiplying the apprehension of the strikers and the restiveness of the
coal consumers, Mitchell bore the increasing strain with his customary
calmness and self-control.

After the parties had been deadlocked for many weeks, President
Roosevelt called the mine owners and the union leaders to a conference
in the White House. Of Mitchell's bearing, the President afterwards
remarked: "There was only one man in the room who behaved like a
gentleman, and that man was not I."

The Board of Arbitration eventually laid the blame on both sides but
gave the miners the bulk of their demands. The public regarded the
victory as a Mitchell victory, and the unions adored the leader who
had won their first strike in a quarter of a century, and who had won
universal confidence by his ability and demeanor in the midst of the
most harassing tensions of a class war. *

* Mitchell was cross-examined for three days when he was testifying
before the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission. Every weapon which craft,
prejudice, and skill could marshal against him failed to rule his temper
or to lead him into damaging admissions or contradictions.

John Mitchell's powerful hold upon public opinion today is not alone due
to his superior intelligence, his self possession, his business skill,
nor his Irish gift of human accommodation, but to the greater facts that
he was always aware of the grave responsibilities of leadership, that he
realized the stern obligation of a business contract, and that he
always followed the trade union policy of asking only for that which was
attainable. Soon after the Anthracite strike he wrote:

"I am opposed to strikes as I am opposed to war. As yet, however, the
world with all its progress has not made war impossible; neither, I
fear, considering the nature of men and their institutions, will the
strike entirely disappear for years to come....

"This strike has taught both capital and labor that they owe certain
obligations to society and that their obligations must be discharged
in good faith. If both are fair and