1900: China's Boxer Rebellion, which began in the preceding year with attacks on foreigners and Christians, reaches its height.Labor unrest in coal mining country continued on and off into 1923. Unhappy with the eventual settlement, the miners staged a number of wildcat work stoppages into 1920, and all work had stopped in Illinois and Indiana by the summer of 1920. When President Wilson proposed an immediate wage increase of 14 percent and an arbitration panel to consider further demands, miners finally returned to work. ![]() The miners, however, continued the strike for nearly a month. In response to an 8 November federal court order, acting UMW President John L. President Woodrow Wilson declared the strike unlawful, and federal troops were ordered into the minefields of several states. Almost immediately, the government took steps to end the strike. When no such contract was forthcoming, 425,000 coal miners nationwide went on strike. When the United Mine Workers' (UMW) national convention convened the following month in Cleveland, the 2,000 delegates present voted to strike on 1 November if a new contract providing for a 30-hour workweek and 60 percent wage increase were not negotiated by then. The strike spread despite union officials' moves to stop it. The contract providing for the fines had been drawn up under the so-called Washington Agreement that addressed the economic pressures of World War I and extended until 1 April 1920. ![]() When the subdistrict's coal operators declined to return those fines, miners ignored local union officials' pleas and voted to stop work altogether. ![]() When a large number of coal miners in the Belleville sub-district of Illinois struck briefly in early July 1919 to protest the jailing of labor activist Tom Mooney, they were fined under the terms of their union contract.
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