Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-12-14
MINERS GU I.
Ottumwa Miners Strike in
Sympathy With Teamsters.
TROUBLE BEING SETTLED
Star and Spring Hill uines-state-
mont of Messrs Raum and
Howels.
TROUBLE BEING SETTLED

Howels.
[From Wednesdays Daily.l
! A sympathetic strike was inaugur-
ated among the miners in number Of
the camps in this vicinity yesterday,
for the purpose Of compelling the mine
operators to accede to the demands of
the teamsters who have fixed
scale of 3 and az cents
for hauling coal from the
mines, and limiting the amount haul
ed at 100 bushels per day. With the
exception of the Star mines and the
Spring Hill camp the strike has prov
en- effective and the teamsters scale
was signed, all work being resumed
this morning. At the Star mines
twenty-three men suspended work yes
terday and at / o'clock today were still
out. G. Olsen, of the Spring Hill
mines, where the miners went out a
few days ago, reported today that out
of the twelve that struck, eight had re-
turned to work. The proprietors of
the South Ottumwa and Sullivan mines
reported today that work which was
suspended there yesterday was resum-
ed this morning, the proprietors hay-
! ing agreed to pay the scale
demanded by the team
sters. Judging from the nature OF the
grievance at the Star mines, and ac-
cording to the statement of the op-
orators, the strike there will be of lon
ger duration than it was at the other
mines where work was suspended. AL
! IL 10 80 &L.o
question, quite naturally, and the OPP.
miners have gone squarely back on
their agreement, which they say is in
effect to April i, 19L-, and was
made principally to avert just
such trouble as this. The
situation at the Star mines is, perhaps,
a. little different from that at any 9TH
er mine. and as both the operators of
the mine and d. ii. Baum, the
owner of the same, have consented to
make an impartial statement of their
side of the question, the Courier has
secured the following interviews with
the above named gentlemen:
Mr.. Howel,s Statement
Mr.. Howels said: Grimes Dunberger
and myself have leased the Star mines
from Mr.. Baum. We mine the coal
and Mr.. Baum delivers it from the
mine to the dump, consequently we
have nothing to do with paying the
teamsters. We pay the district price
for mining and day labor, and in the
latter case we pay So per day or II
cents more than the scale calls for. We
mine the coal and deliver it to Mr..
Baum at the mouth of the slope at SO
much per ton. We have contract to
that effect for one year, from Dec. q,
1899. The trouble in our case is, that
the miners lave made demand on us
that we cannot meet. We have our
CONTRACT with Mr.. Baum and that is to
deliver coal to him at the mines. He
sells it and delivers it. We do not en-
ploy any teamsters, consequently the
sympathetic strike of the miners in
our employ, because the teamsters who
haul coal from our mines are not paid
the Transfers scale, is unjust. The
teamsters should go to Mr.. Baum with
their demand. They cannot rightfully
hold us justifiable foc any refusal made
by Mr.. Baum.
We have written agreement with
.ae bank committee that there would
not be any trouble at the mine until
April !, 1900, after we signed the OF
tumwa agreement and consented to
pay yardage for draw slate. Those
were two demands which we met, be-
sides paying the II cents extra to the
day men. Now they come in and want
to assist the transfers to win their
strike by means of a sympathetic
strike whereby they have utterly ig-
nored the Ottumwa agreement and a
written agreement of their own
MIR Baum's Statement.
"The Star mines are located one and
a quarter miles from the city limits.
take the coal from the mouth of the
pit and deliver 1t by means of tram
the city limits. The Transfers take ii
from there and deliver it to the trade
in Ottumwa. / pay 21s cents for all
local deliveries. I mean by local de.
liveries, THAI which IS delivered to ia.
miles. pay SO cents per ton for de.
iivaring factory coal. did not limit
my Transfers to a certain number oil
loads that they should haul in one
day. A greater part Of the time they
had plenty of coal to haul. This, OF
course, varied according to the outpu,
at the mines, which, sometimes was
nindcred by accident, or by an unusu
ally large sale of coal to farmers a,
the dump, but as to my saying to my
teamsters that they should haul jus
such and such number of loads pei
day, I never placed these restriction.
on them.
''Some of my transfers hauled a.
many as four loads per day, which, a
21a dents per bushel, amounted to 81
per day, figuring sixty bushels to th'
load. Two loads per day at the sam
ratio would, of course, amount to So
/ employ three men and have thre
mules on the tramway. There are tw.
mines situated near me, or in. othe