Phil B. Penna of Indiana, the union's vice-president in 1891, took McBride's place as president. The UMWA was described as a "beaten union," but Penna was enthusiastic and the miners cheered his "fiery oratory." Nevertheless, conditions worked against the union. During his tenure the panic of 1893 oppressed the country, wages had decreased, and many families were on the verge of starvation. By 1896, one writer claims, "the organization had become reduced to a mere skeleton." The union had less than $300 in the treasury and only about 10,000 members. In 1897, Penna, disheartened, resigned to become labor commissioner for the Indiana coal operators. He turned the presidency of the UMWA over the Michael Ratchford, of Ohio.
When Ratchford took office in 1897, there was not enough money in the treasury to call a meeting of the national executive board and the district presidents. Deciding that drastic steps were needed to save the union, Ratchford called a national strike of miners to begin July 4, 1897. The date was important. Previous strikes had always been called in April or May, so wage changes could be included in prices set by the operators. No one expected the strike in July, and the operators were not prepared to fight. The July 4th holiday helped also: The "very meaning of Independence Day, plus the impetus of the day's idleness, would give a healthy start to the strike." Additionally, the strike call was not issued until a day or two before, so there was no time to build up reserves of coal or to import strikebreakers. Ratchford's strategy was described as "bold" and resulted in the first successful strike since the union had been organized.
Historians claim that this strike, "one of the greatest struggles in American labor history up to that time," marked a turning point in the history of the United Mine Workers. "It was fought when the incubus of the panic was still in force, but was soon followed by a revival of business. . . . Thousands of mine workers who had withdrawn from the union, returned." As a result, Ratchford gained a national reputation as a "wise and able leader of men." At the 1898 convention, the cheering rank and file acclaimed him one of the great labor statesmen. Union membership had increased to 33,000, and the treasury contained $11,000.
