New-York tribune., 1870-04-19


OF STRIKES ON PRICEs-THE MINERS UNION
-TUE COAL MARKET-NO DANGER OF A
SCARCITY.
O,r readers may have noticed a brief dis
18th IN tbe news columns OF TIE TRIBUNE about two
weeks ago. TO the effect that mining operations had been
suspended throughout the whole extent OF the schuyI
kill coal regions Although the anthracite coal fields OF
ponnsvlvonia may all be circumscrbed within the limits
of rectangle 100 miles in length by 40 in BREADTH OF
which area they occupy at most but onefh part OF
500 square miles, the entire supply OF that KIND oi uei
derived from this narrow territory. Our imaginary
roconoe ipcloes four distinct coal fields entorey sepa-
rate one from the other, and having different chahe Oh
communication with tide water They are known as the
Inner and Lower schuylki, Lehigh, and Wyoming re-
gions More than 100000 tuns Of coal are now an
nually taken from these regions, OF when schuyt
kill furnishes more than One-thlrd In the schuyl-
kill fields aOne 1900 men ana boys are orui-
narily employed in coaminng; 1i8 coiieries were III
operation in 1867 and 12S firms or indlVduas "ee e
Gagged in working them. The fact that all these collier
% orcept four of the smaller Ones have ceased working
on account Of difficulties with the men, Is therefore OF 10
little importance TO the public.
The fluctuations i'm the price OF coal resulting from theso
suspensions matters.of recent and btef
Last year the wholesale price Of stove coal at the ea
ton auction sales rapidly rose from 1886 tun M
of February s. the 2h Of October and receded
TO &c % on the 10Th of December and 81 70 on the 2th OF
I'm sehuylk County the price has advanced to % % per
tun In 1865 the fluctuations were even still greater te
lowest price stove coal at auction beng "a 81 Oh o
9th OF May, and the highest Sl5 Oh lho
2Cth Of August, only three months later.
These violent movements in opinion, were brought
about by specuators and would not have been possible
had the pubc been well informed TO the true rea-
tions between the demand and supply Of the article.
Last wear there strikes in all three regions In
scbuylkill the differences which began in May were
compromised in June in the Lehigh region about TWO
or three weeks later; but in the wyoming or northern
region from whence the Delaware, LackaWanna, ana
western Railroad Company and the Delaware and Hud-
son Canal Company draw their supplies work was not
fully resumed until September. Although those COM
panes refused to compromise with the miners by giving
them basis they yielded far as to give them higher
wages than they would ordinarily receive under the ar
rangement effected in schuylki County. The following
we trust will be found an intelSlbe account u 'Ae
schuyiu &" basis :"
Roth the miners and their employers are organZednto
Unions the Association of the former embracing all the
miners and aborers in the Schuylk region and that OF
the latter all the operators they are called, except
possibly some half dozen. The name OF the Miners
Union il the "Workincmen's Benevolent Association"
while the operators are collectively known as the
"Mners Board of Trade" The representatives OF these
two organizations agreed last June that when coal
brought So per un at Port Carbon "a point on the Read
ing Railroad about two miles east Of Potsve the 1ol
lowing rates of wages should be pad To miners, slf
week to laborers inside the mines, SO week, and TO
lab0rers outside the mines, sl week Fixed prices,
more advana to the MINER also agreed upon
for contract work price OF 3 per un at Port carbon
is about equivalent to S. at wholesale in NewYork For
every 20 cents advance in the price Of coal, the
nav OF tho miners and labOrcrs was TO be
advanced five per cent on the basis wages On
this arrangement the men resumed work, and
both operators and miners remained to all appearances
satisfied with the system until the opening OF the present
Spring Owing to the stOppage Of work in the wyoming
region and operations Of Spectators in this city, the
prices of coal ruled very high Wages from June to De-
cember averaged por cent above the basis so that the
lowest paid aborers received during season 2 2 per
week. instead of Sl1, which they would nave had had
the price Of coal not risen above the basis The price OF
coal it may be noted averaged about 20 per cent above
the basis per for the and the year
must have very profitable one for the operators
The rate owages which uctuated between the basis and
80 per above basis fixed every month by writ
ten between the coal operators and the Work
ingnens Association. The following is copy of one Of
these documents: o,,ooo
Of an % int e9 ' Of S s d Tsn me ISa
A.sodaion GEoaoE CORBKrT, Q Secreary, W B. A
behalf the men agree advance Of
IS cent C y i5G Eas or - " per J s the % 3 Of Sa
JANIS McLlrGuLIs JoHy sIyEY, Co. President
We accept the agree August
Ii. 5. BoSgR, Secretary Coal Operators Committee
The basis system may be regarded fully established
in schuylk County. The most that the operators pro-
pose is reduction OF wages, with change in the prn-
cplc by which they regulated 1t Is justly appre-
hended that strikes would be more frequent under
fixed rate Of wages than under the sliding scale Of the
basis 1t stated last Winter in The Posrie Miners
Journal that formerly when large contract had been
entered into demands for advanced wages were fire.
ptlv do Inv fba mir mar m
operators subjected to heavy losses from strikes
Under the basis system the aborer receives his proper
ton whenever the price rises In February last the
price OF coal being low and many coieres not working,
the WOrkngmen's Association voted TO suspend work
until the stock mined should be cleared off, and prices
rise to the basis above It, 1t is to be noticed that this
suspension was decreed by the miners and aborers alone
the operators being allowed voice in the matter The
Iehigh and Wyoming men, who had suffered severely
from tho long strike Of the previous Summer and who,
although they did not obtain basis were now receiving
better wages than the schuylkill men, Unexpectedly,
though very naturally refused to join in the suspension
Thereupon the schuykill Association voted to
work again. but to their great surprise the coal operators
met and resolved upon basis of s. 80 per un with
wages 2 for miners $40 for inside laborers and 50 for
outside abOrers, and reduction of thirty per cent on
contract work, which majority Of the miners
pOyed The difference between these wages and those
given the s. basis is very considerable. The
miners cut down at one stroke thirty
per cent. With coal at basis prices, the
inside laborers have their wages reduced from 2 TO @
and the outside aborers from s1 to So The reader
determine for himself whether $40 week is sufficient
compensation for hard work inside coal mine Working
by contract average miner would earn under the old
basis s22 80 to s2i week, working eight hours. Under
the proposed reduction Of so per cent he would make
only from SIG to ST. These amounts according to the
statements of Of the largest operators The PreS
dent OF the Workngmen's Benevolent Association stated