The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-08-10
Current Events.

OuII0llL CIV OAACos
The mining troubles In this district seen
to be nearly as far from settlement a.
ever. Ii Is true the arbitration committee
have arrived at an agreement, MIR. william!
and Mr.. Gage, the umpire, having agreed
that 72l5 cents Is the highest price the
Coal Run Co. can afford TO pay (thougl
Mr.. Rend held out for TIC with 75c al
the minimum limit, taking into consider
Grafton the exhaustion OF coal the expen-
SEES outside of wages and the selling price
but as this committee agree that these fig
ures, T21%c, shall be the price from Aug. z
1889, to May /, 1890, the miners may refuse
10 accept the decision, on the ground that
the dates named are an Interpolation to the
original agreement for arbitration proceed
ings. The finding Is a victory for the
company, and as the reduction Is TIC, II Ii
very unsatisfactory to the miners, partlcu-
larly since II the agreement Is accepted
72I5c will be the price paid through the
fall and winter-the very best seasons.
The employees of other mines than the
Coal Run Co. are hardly likely TO abide by
this decision, the arbitration proceedings
being between that Company and Its en-
ployees only, and when other operators
were asked 10 join In the arbitration pro-
ceedings they all positively refused to do
so.
In this connection, a report published
Yesterday by the miners relief committee
of Chicago, which Is signed by Hon. Frank
Lawler, who Is Its acting head, and who
has been the principal worker of the com
mittee, will be interesting. Mr.. Lawler
~ find Oh at IF 81 NM m a m
women and children dependant upon the
mines of this district for support, at least
one.half, or 1000 souls, are dependant on
charity for sustenance, OF whom 1000 are
In Streator, 1000 at La Sale, 5000 at Spring
Valley and $50 at Wenona. These figures
are under rather above the mark. To these
1000 people the committee has sent from
Chicago about 200 tons of provisions. The
committee also find that the miners pay
has In the past seven years been re-
duced from 81 05 to Soc. ton, and II the
reduction of the arbitration committee Is
accepted the reduction will be 30c. ton,
The committee on behalf of the miners
ask for settlement on the basis of at least
75c., and by telegraph have asked Scott Of
Erie and Bartlett OF Boston, chief owners
of the mines of this district, 10 use their In
huence In the way of effecting settlement
that shall be fair TO the men.
The testimony taken by neither commit,
tee has been published except BY piece
meal, and a full statement OF the facts In
fluencing the arbitration committee cannot
be had; but enough Is known, from that
testimony, from that taken by Hon. Frank
Lawler and by the State Board Of Charities
at La Sale to prove concluslvely that the
miners are a very poorly paid set Of men,
their wages running from $15 to $35 a
month, with $25 as a fair average. Stories
of 800, $75 and 800 month earned may
be taken, as rule, with grains OF allow
ance. In the first place. In spite OF the
law, the truck store still tlourishes In Iii E
nois and where the mine runs also store
Il is TO their interest to work as many men
as possible. Two miners with each fam
lily OF four or five, earning each $25 month
will eat twice as much as one man with a
family of four or five earning $50 month
Hence, as rule, where there Is truck
store, that mine will employ the heads OF
two families TO do the work which the head
of one family could do as well and earn
two mems wages. In the second place.
when miner Is credited with $50, $75, or
800 month earned, 1t will generally be
found that he has working alongside OF
him two or three sons of various ages
whose names do not appear on the pay
roll at all, but who In reality do about as
much work az he does who therefore
draws the pay Of the three or four men. In
nearly every other trade, the operators fur
nish the tools, but the miner has TO buy
his own blasting agent, while the whole
body Of men In a mine pay the company
from $125 to $3.50 month for sharpening
tools, which Is done by man paid by the
mine only from $40 to $50 to do the work.
The operators also claim cost Of As cents
ton for dead work-entry driving, prop
ing roofs, hauling Of coal to the shaft 10 be
elevated, pumping water, &C; but when
the men offered 70 do this work for 81 cts,
tors refused, giving no reasons, however,
though Mr.. Gage, the umpire suggested
that an acceptance of the offer would take
away from the owners all control of their
mine-a suggestion that has some force,
though the offer of the miners presents
no insurmountable objections.
There Is one fact that the consumer finds
difficult In explaining satisfactorily to Alm-
self, and that Is that while In the past seven
years the wage to the miner has by this
decision of the arbitrators fallen SOC a ton,
the price to consumers has increased from
25 to SOC a ton, and that, too, within 25
miles Of the mines.
The Chicago people are at work on the
great drainage project, the first step In the
construction of which Is defining the
boundary limits of the drainage district
j ust at this time these boundaries are very
uncertain and II Is equally as uncertain
whether they will be settled upon with or
without high local row, which the papers,
particularly the Tribune, are endeavoring
to make as lively as theclrcumstances will
permit. In this preliminary skirmish the
Tribune IL making itself especially con
spicuous as a contortionist, and II Mr.
Medill really knowns what he does want,
no one has been able to find II out thus far,
except that he seems to be unanimous In
not wanting anything any one else does.
However, the extraordinary rain storms of
two and three weeks ago, causing cleans
ing Of the river and the sewers by pouring
their contents into the Lake and befouling
the water supply, have adm0nishad Chi
cage that the work must be pushed as rap
idly as the law Of the case will allow and
l. II. - ..,lI