The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-07-19
THE MINE OPERATORS SIDE.

ter into the controversy between bhe miners
and their employers. Attention will be
called TO them lRter.-ED.
EDITOR ADvooATE:-Seversl articles
have been recently published by you
touching the strike Of the coal miners in
southeastern Kansas which are 30 mani
festly unfair that l feel constrained to
ask space to briefly state the facts.
The communications you have pub
lished have, Of course, made it appear
that the grinding and soulless corpora
tions are starving the workmen, and the
appeal made in your columns for food
and financial aid (scsttersd broadcast
oyer the state, as il has been) tends to
confirm this view. The impression Gre
Rted is that the coal operators have re-
duced the wages of their miners and that
the latter have struck against the rsduc
tion. This impression is created by those
who know better, but it is done to arouse
public sympathy. Following are the facts:
For the past ten or twelve years the
miners Of southeastern Kansas have had
few grievances. Work has been steady
and the pay good and prompt. For some
years, however, feeling has been grow
ing against the screens used to separate,
for commercial purposes, the lump coal
from the slack, and last winter the legis-
lature passed the snti-screen bill requir-
ing the operators to weigh the coal as it
came from the mine, and before 1t was
screened, and pay the miners on those
weights. Formerly they had been paid
for lump coal only, the rest being thrown
in, and the price agreed on, being sup
posed to cover that. OF course, it was at
once seem by every one that a new sd-
justment Of prices would have to be
made, since no one of any intelligence
would suppose that the operators would
pay the same price for a bushel or ton of
" "rough-Rnd tumble coal that they
would pay for bushel or ton of screened
or clean coal. All sides admitted this,
and all sides knew there would be q diff
ference Of opinion when the time came to
agree upon the price to be paid. The
wording Of the screen bill permitted the
operators to delay its taking effect until
September, when the miners hoped that
the pressure Of the markets would assist
them in forcing decided advance The
operators, on the other hand, wished the
new price to be established and agreed
on earlier, and so they announced that
they would, after a certain date, pay for
"miDe-run" coal, as intended by the new
law. The notices specified q summer
price Of AZ cents and winter price Of So
cents by the ton, these prices being ar
rived at by q calculation Of the percent
age Of lump coal mined as shown by the
books Of the mine operators during the
past year. The announcement of these
figures at once caused a strike, the MIN
ers walking out, and asserting that it
was q reduction from the former price.
The union also posted notices demand
ing 621s cents for summer work and rs
cents for winter work by the ton. This
is exactly the status Of affairs at the be-
ginning Of the strike, and, 30 Ear as l
know, there is no one who will deny it;
and it must be borne in mind that the
miners and their leaders have stated
throughout the entire trouble that they
are not demanding an advance in waRaa,