Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-01-27

S~AO
hooking Valley and Pennsylva-
MA Thin Vein Miners, and That is
Laft to Arbitration The Result
OF the Convention Looked Upon
as the Greatest Victory Ever
Won by Organized Labor-An-
nuaI Conferences Arranged For
viii Meet in Pittsburg Next
Year
! Chicago January 26.-The inter-
State JOINT convention OF bituminous
! coal operators and miners came to an
ed at 10 o'clock tonight. The miners
were jubilant over the results of their
ten days session, for it means to
| nearly 100000 soft coal miners an adj
vance of ten cents per ton and a uni
form day Of eight hours at uniform
wages. And the operators congratu
| lated one another with victory over
! themselves
The following are the resolutions
adopted with but two dissenting votes:
Resolved, That an advance Of ten
| cents per ton for mining screened coal
take effect in the Western Pennsylya
MIA district, Hooking Valley (Ohio)
district and Indiana bituminous dis
trict, the first day of April, 1898; and
| that a relative run Of mine price be
determined in all the districts named,
| by uniform fiat or Akron shaped bar
screen of seventy-two feet superficial
! area, one and one-fourth inch space
| between the bars; that the price Of run
| of mine coal in Grape Creek district
and in the Indiana btuminous dis
| trict be forty cents per ton for the
same district, based upon siXty-six
cents in Pittsburg thin vein district
and in Hooking Valley and Indi-
ana; and that on and after April 1,
1898, the eight-hour day shall be in
| effect in all districts here represented;
that III form wages for day labor shall
! be paid the different classes of labor
in the field named; and that
INTERNAL DIFFERENCES
/ in any Of the States, both as to price
! and conditions, shall be referred to
| the States affected; that we further
agree to the use of the diamond bar
screen Of present pattern in the block
! district Of Indiana, with the privilege
| of run of mine, as may be desired by
| the market conditions"
| The convention completed its work
| by naming d scale committee to tabu-
| late the scale and perfect arrange
ments for putting it into effect. It
| was determined that hereafter the
miners and operators will meet n
January each year, to fix scale for
| the twelve months beginning April J.
| Pittsburg, Pa. was selected for the
next convention. which will meet on
! The third Tuesday of January, 1898.
The scale committees final report
| as outlined above was presented TO the
| forenoon session, and with it came
| the protests OF two Hooking Valley
| operators. Messrs. Morton ana Ellis
worth. They insisted upon diferen-
| tial between their scale and that Of the
| thin vein Of Pennsylvania, and quoted
| masses of statistics to show that + the
| plan were put into operation, Hooking
| Valley mines would be compelled TO
! close down in the face Of competition
| from Pittsburg and West Virginia.
| Generator Robbins, of Pennsylvania,
| fnallv proposed that the question OF
| differential in favor of the Hooking
| Valley district be
| LEFT TO ARBITRATION.
This was at once accepted by the
Hooking Valley operators, but
brought out a demand from the opera
tors of Ohio, outside the Hooking Val
lev. that they be included in the arbi-
/ tratiOn and be allowed differential as
we'll.
Jrpon reassembling roll call on the
| resolution resulted: Ayes "a, nays 2.
President Ratchford then moved
| that the majority on the resolution
| be made the sense OF the convention
| bv a viva voce vote. The motion car
| riad unanimously, and the convention
| applauded for several minutes. Pres
| ident Ratchford addressed the conVen-
ton briefly urging the operators Of
| Hooking Valley and Pennsylvania to
4 get tO2eLIGI anu GIL 10 tAiNhi Nt-HNrt
! ences 81 that, on April 1st, they would
he able to give their miners the adj
vance and better hours which would
then become effective elsewhere. and
he promised to use his best endeavors
To bring them together.
Operator Dalzell. of Illinois, put
through 4 motion that the scale adopt
ed he in effect from April 1. 1898, to
ADril l. 1899, and that the miners and
| operators
MEET IN JOINT CONFERENCE
II January. 1899, to adopt scale for
the rate of mining for the ensuing
year r.4a,oa
The arrangement of the States scales
vas then discussed. President Ratch-
ford explained that the adjustment OF
the dav rate would be arranged by each
state the day men to have an advance
in ratio with the mining rate, eight
hours labor with eight hours pay,
| forrv-eight hours labor per week. Ar.
4 Ratchford expressed the hope that At
the end OF the year perhaps even bet
ter hours could be obtained. The
| eight hour day he considered even a
greater victory than the ten cent ad-
! vance and one Of the greatest move
ments yet accomplished by organized
labor.
Operator Robbins. Of Pennsylvania
| congratulated the miners on the grand