Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1895-03-15

SOAL MIN IN HI
The strike of the coal miners of Penn '
syIvanla, involving, as IL does. ABOUT "
2l,OO0 men, is surely 10 be depiored, yet
it must be Unsuitable or it would not
have occurred. There is no doubC that
these toilers in a most hazardous occu-
patton have been compelled to work for
starvation wages, for a pittanca barely
sufficient to keep body and soul together,
but there ia no apparent reason for it.
The operators or mine owners talk OF
over production and competition as
though they were evils that could not be
remedied. With their immense capital
these gentlemen see tit to indulge in a
cutthroat policy and instead of bearing
the losses Themselves saddle them upon
the unfortunate miners, who, goaded TO
desperation by poverty and wrong, seek
redress as a last resort in d strike. 1t has
long been the custom in this country to
speak of the "pauper labor of Europe
but the fact is that SO far as coal mining
is concerned it is lone cheaper in the
United States than any country in Eu'
rope. Upon the subject of the "World's
Coal Trade the British board of trade
has recently published an instructive
book of statistics relative to the produc-
ton and consumption Of coal.
In one table it gives the production,
home consumption and exports of coal
in the United Kingdom, United States,
Germany, France. Belgium. Austria
Hungary, Russia, Spain, italy, Sweden.
In this it is shown that the United
Kingdom produces about 35,0OO,O0O tors
per annum more than the United States,
and that it exports over 100000 tons
while the United States only exports
1880 0 tons. In another table it gives
the value of the product and the price
per ton at the mine. This shows the
value of the English product TO be
ETA, 100000, and that of the United
} States e39.S10,O00. Price per ton at mine,
! England So, United States S. 5, d. 81 and
the United States price is lower than
any other country named in the table.
:, The same table shows the production
per miner to be, England 29G tons
United States 453 tons. In commenting
. upon the report Bradstreet's Of March .
a says: "lhe United States, it will bt
e seen, heads the list as regards the pro
duction per capita of those engaged il
" the industry, and the price per ton a
a the mine is shown to be lower here thai
d in any other country. Whether tn
relative values of coal for steam purpose
has anything to do with the low pric
d per ton as compared with the price rulin'
l. in Great Britain and Germany is no
"a stated. The fact seems to be tina
whether the claim Of higher wages pan
here has any basis or not, tho produc
D. ton of coal per capita is so mucI
IS larger as to point to the conclusion TIA
the highest paid labor is in the end tn
cheapest
The concluding paragraph ia mlsleat
id inn, for it must follow that if ii cost
three ehiIlings less to mine d ton Of coz
If ia this country than it does in EuroE
1e the wage Of the miner mast be reiat,Vel
Mt less. In England, especially, where mir
es Ing is u science, they nave as good appl
ances as we have. There ie no reason
ad doubt tho accuracy Of the statistics an
no they prove that the coal miners Of Penn
ID sylvania are not in receipt Of livir
ef wages.
TT,