The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-14
A Dreadful Story of Wrongs and
Oppression.

ers and dumped in the "breaker."
Say that 1000 tons will be credited
to the miners; that is near the average.
That would give the company about
l 800 tons. You will remember that
the difference in the tons is,-the
miners give 1900 lbs. for ton, while
the companies give only 1000 lbs.
Nine hundred pounds difference in
the ton. And the smaller sizes ''pea,"
"buckwheat' and "birdseye" are not
counted for the miners. You can see
that the estimate is not too high.
The miners would be paid $715 for
the 1000 tons. The other expenses
would be something like this:
Is boys, at soc. per day, S 81 SO
so boys in the mines, at
$1.26 per day, 63 90
All other expenses, 200 90
Incidental cost, 300 SO
Paid to the miners, It's 90
Total, $1,Ol5 SO
This estimate is very nearly correct
without going through the details
and itemizing them. You remember
the laborers are paid by the miners
in this estimate. The above process
will leave the cost of producing a ton
of coal a little more than 81. It is
safe to say that the cost of producing
a ton of coal and preparing it for
market is $1.05. Some place it at
$1.15. The cost of transportat ion 1
do not know anything about.
THE POWDER QUESTION.
Among the many important QueS-
tiOns concerning mines and mining
none is more important than the
powder question. Let me give you a
few figures. In the 1O2 anthracite
districts there were in 1891, 800, 1874
kegs of powder used by the miners.
Powder was three dollars per keg: it
is $2.75 now. The miners of this dis
trict paid the companies $500, 402.
Let us say that the companies paid
$1.50 for it per key, which they did
not, for can purchase it for that,
l am sure the companies can get it
for a great deal less, but say they did
pay $3.50 for it. This would make
the premium $48O,2O1. Now allow
them SO per cent for handling it, and
we find the companies have embezzled
or stolen by law, $24O, 1OO.5O. AS there
are only about 6,293 miners in the dis
tricts. it was about $3S. 15-29-1OOea
Think of that enormous tax for the
privilege of burning powder. Is not
this shameful robbery of the poor
hard working miners? Stealing over
$38-frOm each miner in this district.
Powder is not So per keg in the whole
anthracite region; it varies from 81 rs
to 3d. The number of kegs of pow
der used in the anthracite regions was
+1,1S4,731. The average price paid
is probably $2.4O per keg.' The COM
panies make a profit on this alone,
over the price of handling it-measur-
ed by other kinds of merchandise
of $40, 1888 go. Thay make that amount
after allowing them SO per cent for
handling it. You see l, 1S4, 731 kegs of
powder at $40 per keg would be ST.
S43, 354 40 We will say that the pow
der cost them $1.4O per keg-and 1
am sure it did not. Divide the above
amount by two and you have allowed
them so per cent for handling it. and
81 40 for the powder, and the amount
of profit would be $710, $3.50 Think
of it-proM made ON the miners. What
did they do that they should receive
$40, $3.50 from the miners. This
powder is done up in nice, neat car
tridges, each keg containing ten of
these cartridges, or 25 pounds. So for
25 pounds of powder is an outrage.
You wonder why the miners do not
club together and purchase their own
powder? Well, that was tried several
times, but the miner who had the
audacity to buy powder elsewhere
would not have work very long. You
must do as the companies say or leave
their employment, and we cannot
better ourselves. "Have we no laws?"
you ask. We have the laws, but the
corporations have the inspectors and
the courts. The miners cannot over
come corporate = Id. But this will
be discussed further on. The above
will demonstrate the Importance of
the "Powder Question"
THE PAY OF MINERS.
[ suppose you would like to know
how much the miners are paid.
etc. This is a hard question to
answer correctly, l will give as
much information concerning the
wages as possible. / will give the
figures of the first district. The
wages in the first district are about
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