Alexandria Gazette

THE COAL DIFFICULTY.—The following is an extract from a letter received by a coal merchant of this city from a correspondent in Philadelphia:

"We are still doing nothing on coal; the men or rather their leaders seem determined to compel an entire submission to their terms, including fixing of minimum rates and prices on which to base wages; claiming right to suspend, &c. They made a farce of submitting to arbitration, but as soon as they found it was taking a practical shape, they shifted ground from a $3 basis at Port Carbon for Schuylkill coal to a $5.50 basis at New York, on which the conference broke up. An attempt will now be made to get an arrangement for local arbitration by which each region or even subdivision thereof can settle these details. We fear nothing will be settled until after the 1st of May. The Men's Union do not seem to be united; the Luzerne Co. men are discussing actual wages abandoning the basis to which they were pledged. The Lehigh men declare they will settle their own wages. So the hope is we shall break them in, in detail."