New-York tribune., 1877-10-13

WuKsBARKE Sent o{-So many different classes
of labor are employed in and about coal mine, that
it il difficult to ascertain any average rate OF wages
and from that 10 determine whether the pay the
men receive is adequate or not. The number of men
who are technically called miners, that IS skilled la
borcrs who drive the gangways through the coal
veins and excavate the coal from breasts or cham
bcrs either side, is comparatively very small ana
any conclusions drawn from their average monthly
earnings might be very erroneous. Besides these
there are miners laborers who load the coal into the
cars, employed not by the company, but by the
miners themselves. by whom. also, their rate of
pay is fixed. The wages of this class of
men are generally the same in any gwen
mine and in mines in the same vicinity, but there Is
nothing to prevent miner from contracting with
his aborer at higher lower rate than Others paw
Then there are, inside of every NINE great number
of drivers who take the ears from the points where
they are loaded to the shaft end of the tunnel,
and return the empty ears TO the gangways and
breasts. These men are paid according To the num-
Der of mules they drive and the danger and respon-
siblty of the places they fiji. Some receive as much
as 70 per cent more wages than Others. Another
class of inside laborers are known as " runners"
whose duty it is to push the ears about in places
where the mules cannot 90. Plane men, of which
some work at the top and Others the bottom of the
cars on the planes Then there engineers, inside
bosses, doorboys, etc. each class, and even hdiyd-
uals in the same class, receiving widely different
rates Of wages.
Outside of the mine the variety of the work is as
great as inside There engineers, fremen, bosses,
sIatcrs leaders, bumpers, blacksmiths carpenters,
breaker bows etc., each individual being paid ac
cordng to the grade and amount of work he does.
I'm comparing the rates of wages at different mines,
fonr grades are usually selected-mners who are
paid by the car or cubic yard; gangway-men, who
are paid given rate for every lineal foot The gang
way is driven; miners laborers who load the cars
and are paid by the day, and unsed outside labor
crs-and as the pay of these is high or low the gem
eral pay at the mine is estimated.
But, because mans wages are ~ 80 day, 1T
must not be supposed that he can earn T39 or $40
month Very rarely has 1t happened, within the last
three years that a coal mine has been in operation
every working day of a month. While the coal
combination lasted every mine in this region
pended work during a certain part of each month,
in order that its production should not exceed the
quota allotted to il. During the last year each col
lIeIy has filed all the ears which the railroad over
which its coal is carried has been able to furnish,
and that number has depended upon the rapidiiy
with which coal could be sold in NewYork and
iiccnt Judgment upon this question of wages, it is
necessary not only to know the rate per day per ear
or per yard which the men receive, but
10 ascertain what their net earnings for the
month are Mr. Charles Parrish, President of the Lc-
high and Wilkesbarre Coal Company who has
leased the mines of that company, in the Wyoming
Valley from the receiver and Is mining coal under
n contract with the New-Jcrsey Central Railroad
Company to deliver TO it q given amount Of coal at
a fixed price per year, is one of the largest indi-
vidnal operators here. Some of the most prominent
and influential leaders OF the strike are in his en-
poy. and, as he Is the only operator who has at
tempted to make an arrangement with his men, the
whole valley is looking To him in tie belief that If
he can induce his men TO resume work those in the
other cocrcs VIII speedily follow.
In order to obtain an intelligent idea OF the pres
ent labor controversy rs seen from the point of
of a coal operator visited Mr.. PanisAs Office, to-
day and the statements and figures given III this let
ter were obtained either from him. from his cashier,
or from hi, books and pay-ros, which was allowed
TO examine. The " long strike Of $50 is the great
event in the coal regions. from which all subsequent
occurrences are dated. ~ its close tn miners and
Iabor,r, IN this valley went 10 wori, for about 20
Der cent less wages hau they received before hey
struck the rates If pay being absolutely fixed and
not regulated by any basis" Those rates were not
materially changed until November 1876 when
they were cut down 10 per cent and further re-
duction Of . per cent was made in March Of this
wear. This is said to have been made absolutely
necessary by the extremely low price Of coal. The
men continued TO work at these reduced wages until
after the railroad strike in July, aud these are the
wages upon which they say they cannot live.
The miners although not the best paid class Of
laboreIs about colhrry, are better rcmuncraed
than any Of the unskcd worllmen. These men are
mostly Wclshncn and ScOtchmen, who learned the
business before coming to this country Their work
Is to drive the eaugways through the veins and de
tach the coal i'm the chambers or breasts, prepara-
tory to loading 1t into The cars For the first class
OF work they are paid by the neal foot and for the
last bv the carload From their gros, wages there
has to be deducted the wages they pay their labor
crs for loading the cars and the cost Of the powder
oil. etc, which they use. From statement made
nm in Mr.. Parrlshs Office. il appears that miners
working in breasts in the Wyoming Valley mines
op.fated BY him. earned on an average, IN 1876,
after all deductions had been made. - II a day.
The average number Of days worked in a month is
estimated at twenty although this may be high.
Wages This wear since March, have been - per cent
below those paid prior to last November, and the
average daily earnings now of miners in Mr.. Par
rish's employ, as estimated in his Office, are from
81 90 to ~ -, with about twenty days work
month Ganggly men always earn rather better
wages than those working breasts
To show Just what the miners were earning at the
reduced rates when the strike hogan. have copied
from Mr. Ph1ish's books and pay-rOlls the following
figures. from which the reader may draw his own
conclusions. The first three breakers are situated
at Plymouth, on the other side of the river about
two or three miles below Wllkcsbarre, and / hayo
selected each case four or five miners who earned
the highest wages IL May last and an equal num-
,I,.