Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-18
WHAT MINERS CAN EARN.
INTERESTING STATISTICS GATHERED By
PROFESSOR BoLLEs.

minoIs and Anthracite Coal Workers
Tho Latter Have Considerably the Best
of ofIt-Important Questions Answered,
tsPECI AL TKLEGRAM TO THE prsPA7cH.1
HARRIsBURG. July. H-Prof. Bolles, Chief
of the Bureau of Statistics, adopted a
different method to obtain the average annual
wages received BY miners for his last report,
than that employed to secure their wages for
the preceding report. In the first instance he
sent blank to each operator in a colliery ask
ing for the monthly earnings for the ten most
skillful and industrious miners for the year 1888
employed in his colliery, and the number of
days worked, and the same facts were sought
with respect to the least skillful. The returns
made to the Bureau of Statistics showed that
the average daily earnings of bituminous coal
miners were 81 g6, and those Of anthracite coal
miners 81 98
In the last report the Chief Of the Bureau of
Statistics. after referring to his previous mode
Of collecting miners earnings, says: "Ob-
viously this inquiry did not cover the whole
ground. 1t took no account of the earnings of
those who were sick and did not or could not
work regularly; nor OF the earnings Of those
year; nor of those who were employed to fill
their places. No doubt an inquiry into the
earnings of all miners would be valuable;
their mortality, the causes of their sickness
and the reasons for changing from one mine to
another. But, however interesting or valuable
the results might be- they should be kept apart
from the principal inquiry as above explained"
Difficult Subject to Handle.
FROM the glib manner in which many Of the
periodicals of the day collect and present
what they call statistics OF the wages and earn
fngs OF the working classes, person not famil-
lar with the subject might conclude that the
inquiry was quite free from difficulties. An
example or two will show the nature of them.
suppose an investigator was desirous OF get
ting the wages and earnings of rollers, class
OF workmen employed in iron mills. These,
one would imagine, could be quite easily COL
lected, But he would soon learn that the
nature Of their work differs greatly at different
places; and that figures representing the wages
and earnings of this class without any explana-
tion of the precise kind of work done would be
utterly misleading. Suppose he was collecting
factories. Different kinds of machinery are
used for spinning and different degrees of skill
are required to direct it, and statistics that did
not explain these things would be misleading
The subject of a workingman's compensation,
therefore, is surrounded with many difficulties
Many are paid the same wages for doing really
dlnerent kinds of work, though perhaps SINH
larly described. Then the inquiry is further
complicated with variations in the cost of liv
ing In different places: also in degrees of health
fuIness and opportunities for social enjoyment.
In view of all these difficulties, whatever crit
icIsms may be Justly made on the most careful
inquiries that have been undertaken, the or
binary quick and easy methods of inquiry are
unquestionably misleading and harmful.
Different Rates of Compensation.
TURNING to the earnings Of miners, some of
the difficulties in the way of ascertaining
these may be stated. First, we may mention
that the miner. especially in the anthracite re-
gion. has an assistant or helper who is paid by
mir Ia ID Inv ha ton for
mining and loading the coal, and he pays his
assistant for loading it, unless he should choose
to do this work himself. The amount paid to
the helper cannot always be ascertained with
the utmost exactness, but 1t is believed that
the figures here given are as nearly correct as
can be furnished. Deductions also have been
made for the powder used by miners in blast
ing, and in every case care has been taken to
ascertain the net earnings received by miners.
II is believed that the returns from enough
collieries have been collected to deduce correct
results, and that large number would not
show much variation.
Other difficulties arise from variation in the
skill and strength of the miner, and also in the
quality and position OF the coal. Thus, some
of the inequalities are in the miners, others
only Is the coal more easily cut in some mines
than In Others, but even in the same mine the
quality and position of the coal may be unlike
in different places. The compensation for cut
ting coal Is not the same in all the mines, but it
is the same per ton in the same mine, and thus
the earnings, even of miners possessing the
same degree of strength and skill and working
the same time in the same mine, are unequal.
Average Daily Wages.
IN the following table we have given the earn
ings and the time of every contract miner
employed during the year in the mine de-
scrlbed. The others employed were either
helpers, who are paid by the miners, or day
laborers, whose wages were given SO fully in
the last report that nothing, it is believed, need
be added here. The miners in each colliery
have been divided into ten classes.
Nine of these in each colliery are
equal in number, and any departure therefrom
arises from the impossibilitv OF making ten
equal classes. As the average daily earnings
of each of these classes are given, and also the
number Of days that the colliery was in opera
tion, it is easy to ascertain the possible earn
ings of a miner in each class by multiply
ing the colliery time by his daily
earnings. Any departure from this re-
suit, or product, is the consequence Of
working more or less than the colliery time.
From these considerations it Is also apparent
that an average of yearly earnings. except OF
those who worked regularly through the year,
would be delusive. Those receiving the larger
sums usually worked during most of the oays
in the but of course this is not the case with
those who received the smaller. They worked
only portion of the time, some of them doubt
less were at work in other collieries during the
year, and the figures here given by no means
represent their total earnings. To average
their earnings would be unjust to them as TO
their employers. From these tables it appears
that the average daily earnings of anthracite
coal miners are the following:
second ciass......2 50 Seventh class 2S
Third class......-. 273 Eighth cass....... 20
Fourth class 81 Ninth class....... 06
Fifth class........ so Tenth class. 70
The average daily earnings of bituminous
coal miners are the following:
First class......S3 246 Sixth class ......s2 101S
second class. 6?9 Seventh class. 02