The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-07

xn0 ORCf6tOfB MAKO Two fEOpOS7t1On9.
One is to Pay sixty.Five Cents Per Ton
Till the End Of the Year-The Miners On
Gals Call a Convention to Consider the
Matter, and Recommend its Acceptance
by the Miners
Columbus, Ohio, September 3.-The
end of the great inc strike is in
sight. This afternoon the national ex-
ecutive board of the United Nine Work
ers agreed to recommend to h miners
q proposition from the Pittsburg oper-
ators for a straight price of So cents a
ton to continue in force until the end of
the year. A delegate convention of all
miners who have suspended work has
been called to meet in Columbus Sep
TENDER Srh, at 10 O'Clock a. m, to act
upon the recommendation.
President Ratchford and the other
members of the board say there is not
| the slightest doubt but that the miners
| will approve the recommendation. The
| proposition does not involve arbitra-
| ton and in effect provides for an i'm
mediate settlement Of the strike. Pres
| ident Ratchford aid tonight that there
| were special reasons for the board rec
ommending the proposition. In the
first place, it comedies the miners a
material advance. Had a SO cent rate
been secured he was confident it could
not have been maintained for more
than seventy days. AS soon as the
miners .ratify the proposition work will
be resumed in all the mines. In the sec
ond place, the proposition provides for
- -1x; 80 Tho io;D oonf0~nronc Gov
the adjustment Of prices. The opera
| tors are pledged to meet with the min
ers prior to the termination of the
| agreement and determine the rate OF
mining for the next year.
Both the members of the miners tx
ecutive board and the operators com
mittee are pleased over the outcome OF
the conference and feel that public
| sentiment will sustain their action.
This morning the operators committee
renewed their first proposition for a Sc
cent rate pending arbitration. This
was again rejected by the miners
board. Then the operators committee
got together and submitted a new
proposition for a straight price Of 6!
cents and after a long discussion it was
accepted by the miners, but subject to
the approval of the miners at large.
The following circular was issued to-
night by the national executive board
ITO the mine workers who have sus.
pended work in the different states:
You are hereby notified that a cOn
vention will be held at Columbus
Ohio, at 10 o'clock on Wednesday morn
ing, September 9Th, 1897.
AT a conference held at Columbus
Ohio, on September 2nd and 3rd be-
tween the national executive board and
district presidents of the United Mine
Workers of America, n a represen-
tative committee of the Pittsburg dis.
trict operators, to which we consented
only after it became apparent that q
national conference of operators anC
miners could not be convened, the fol.
lowing propositions were submitted by
the representatives of the Pittsbure
operators to the executive board and
district presidents, as the basis of q
settlement to terminate the presen,
strike:
l.. 1.-THE resumption of work at a 81
cent rate of mining. The submitting
of the question to a board of arbitra-
ton to determine what h price shall
be, the maximum to be So cents and the
minimum to be 60 cents a ton, the price
to be effective from date of resuming
work.
2. "A straight price of Is cents a tor
to continue in force until the end OF
the year, with the additional mutual
understanding that a joint meeting OF
operators and miners shall be held in
December, 1897, for the purpose Of de-
termining what the rate of mining shall
be thereafter.
your executive board and district
presidents, after much deliberation
and a thorough consideration of the
two propositions do recommend the
latter, as in their Judgment the best
hat "a be secured, because of circum-
stances that are apparent to all who
study the market conditions since the
Inauguration of the strike. You, how
ever, are the court Of nal adjudication
and must decide for yourselves what
our actions shall be and when work
shall be resumed.
Traditional reasons will be given and
a full report made of the general stu
alton at the convention. We would
untrammeled by resolutions n min
structed, other than to act in your best
interest.
Eat this time it is deemed advisa-
BILE, for the reason that provisions are
made in the uniformity agreement now
pending in the Pittsburg, and which il
is expected will be operative in that
district on and after January 1, 1898, tC
arbitrate the question of relative diff.
ferential between pick and machine
mining, which will, we anticipate, dc
much toward furnishing us with more
reliable data of that question than we
possess at present and to that extent
will be beneficial to us in settling ques.
tions as between machine and pick
mining"